Performance of svadharma ONLY as taught by the previous acharyas

[Guest guest]

Dear devotees,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

I had written:

 

> This performance of svadharmas for the sake of attaining Krishna is what

> Prabhupada keeps on referring to in his Gita commentary as "action in

> Krishna consciousness." Action is karma. But action in Krishna

> consciousness is what the Lord is talking of in the Gita.

>

> The "primary means" is ninefold bhakti per se. The Vaishnava acharyas

> therefore prescribe a combination of both and therefore practicing

> Vaishnavas have to accept both bhakti and svadharma or karma or which we

> call VAD as taught by previous Vaishnava acharyas.

 

I wanted to highlight this important point: that we need to perform

svadharmas or Vedic prescribed duties only as taught by previous Vaishnava

acharyas, not by some postmodern Indologist or some MS, PhD who does not

follow the previous acharyas.

 

BG 4.15 says: kuru karmaiva tasmaat tvam puurvaih puurvataram kritam.

"Perform your prescribed duty following in the footsteps of liberated souls

as performed in ancient times." Prabhupada comments, "Arjuna is here advised

to act in Krsna consciousness, following in the footsteps of the Lord's

previous disciples, such as the sun-god Vivasvan, as mentioned

hereinbefore."

 

If you see the words used in the above verse and its translation, it is

evident that the injunction to "act in Krsna consciousness" refers to

performing prescribed Vedic duties for Krsna's pleasure (ie. in Krsna

consciousness).

 

BG 4.16: kim karma kim akarmeti kavayo 'tra mohitaah. "Even the intelligent

are bewildered in determining what is action and what is inaction."

Prabhupada comments, "Action in Krsna consciousness has to be executed in

accord with the examples of previous bona fide devotees. This is recommended

in the 15th verse. Why such action should not be independent will be

explained in the text to follow. ...one has to follow in the footsteps of

previous authorities in the line of disciplic succession. Otherwise even the

most intelligent men will be bewildered regarding standard actions of Krsna

consciousness... It is said that one cannot ascertain the ways of religion

simply by imperfect experimental knowledge... One must follow in the

footsteps of great authorities like Brahma, Siva, Narada, Manu, the Kumaras,

Kapila, Prahlada, Bhisma, Sukadeva Goswami, Yamaraja, Janaka, and Bali

Maharaja. By mental speculation one cannot ascertain what is religion or

self-realization."

 

Here also the words used in the verse are karma and akarma. "Action" again,

referring to prescribed Vedic duties. Again Prabhupada clarifies that such

action must be done in Krishna consciousness and "in accord with the

examples of previous bona fide devotees", "great authorities".

 

BG 4.17: gahanaa karmano gatih. "The intricacies of action are very hard to

understand." Prabhupada's comments in this regard are very nice: "To

understand Krsna consciousness and action according to its modes, one has to

learn one's relationship with the Supreme; i.e., one who has learned

perfectly knows that every living entity is an eternal servitor of the Lord

and that consequently one has to act in Krsna consciousness. The entire

Bhagavad-gita is directed toward this conclusion. Any other conclusions,

against this consciousness and its attendant actions, are vikarmas, or

prohibited actions. To understand all this one has to associate with

authorities in Krsna consciousness and learn the secret from them; this is

as good as learning from the Lord directly. Otherwise, even the most

intelligent persons will be bewildered."

 

There are several points to gather from here. Here also it is prescribed

duty or karma that is referred to in the verse and translation. But the way

how to do that prescribed duty is also explained by Prabhupada in his

commentary: "one has to act in Krsna consciousness." He says that the entire

Gita is directed toward this conclusion that all actions must be done for

Krishna in Krishna consciousness. But one has to learn the secret from

authorities of Krsna consciousness. Otherwise, even the most intelligent

persons will be bewildered regarding the intricacies of prescribed duties as

found in the Vedas.

 

Action or performance of svadharmas in Krishna consciousness is also

referred to in the Third Chapter as yajna.

 

If somebody could present a study of the entire BG on this topic, it might

be useful to convince hard-core skeptics.

 

yhs vgd