Bhagavad-gita As It Is

by A.C. Bhaktivedanta

paramparā

Lineage In Dharmic Faithes

Every living being, out of the many, many billions and trillions of living beings, has a particular relationship with the Lord eternally. That is called svarūpa. By the process of devotional service, one can revive that svarūpa, and that stage is called svarūpa-siddhi – perfection of one’s constitutional position. So Arjuna was a devotee, and he was in touch with the Supreme Lord in friendship.

Svarupa-The prticular relationship with the lord

There is īśvara, which means the controller,

Ishvara-Controller

and there are jīvas, the living entities which are controlled.

Jivas-Living entities being controlled

Prakṛti (material nature) and time (the duration of existence of the whole universe or the manifestation of material nature)

Prakrti-Material Nature

karma (activity)

Karma-Activity

Godhead, or Kṛṣṇa, or Brahman, or the supreme controller, or Paramātmā

Paramatma,Supreme Controller,Brahman

Material nature itself is constituted by three qualities: the mode of goodness, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance.

The 3 modes of material nature

purview

The scope of influence or something

kāla (eternal time)

Kala-Eternal time

kṣetra-jña, conscious,

Ksetra jna-Concious

activities are to be purified, and purified activities are called bhakti.

Purified activities are called bhakti

Impersonal Brahman realization is the realization of His sat (eternity) feature. Paramātmā realization is the realization of sat-cit (eternal knowledge). But realization of the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is realization of all the transcendental features: sat, cit and ānanda (eternity, knowledge and bliss) in complete vigraha (form).

Impersonal brahman and krishna Differnt sides of sat chit ananda

paramparā (disciplic succession).

Parampara-Disciplinic Sucession

The words spoken by the Lord are called apauruṣeya, meaning that they are different from words spoken by a person of the mundane world who is infected with four defects. A mundaner (1) is sure to commit mistakes, (2) is invariably illusioned, (3) has the tendency to cheat others and (4) is limited by imperfect senses. With these four imperfections, one cannot deliver perfect information of all-pervading knowledge.

Apauruseya-Words spoken by the lord

sanātana as “that which has neither beginning nor end,”

Sanatana-That has no beginning or ednd

svarūpa, or constitutional position,

Svarupa-Constitutiona position

Yet man professes to belong to a particular type of faith with reference to a particular time and circumstance and thus claims to be a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or an adherent of any other sect. Such designations are non– sanātana-dharma. A Hindu may change his faith to become a Muslim, or a Muslim may change his faith to become a Hindu, or a Christian may change his faith and so on. But in all circumstances the change of religious faith does not affect the eternal occupation of rendering service to others. The Hindu, Muslim or Christian in all circumstances is a servant of someone. Thus, to profess a particular type of faith is not to profess one’s sanātana-dharma. The rendering of service is sanātana-dharma.

The rendering of service is satana dharma

brahma-jyoti, the rays emanating from the Supreme Lord.

Brahma-Jyoti,The rays of light emanating from the supreme lord

higher planetary systems (Devaloka)

Higher Planetary systems-Deva Loka

We are after designations. Someone wants to become “sir,” someone wants to become “lord,” someone wants to become the president or a rich man or a king or something else. As long as we are attached to these designations, we are attached to the body, because designations belong to the body. But we are not these bodies, and realizing this is the first stage in spiritual realization.

Designations are for the body,we are not this body.

The devotee, who wants to enjoy the association of the Lord, enters into the Vaikuṇṭha planets, which are innumerable, and the Supreme Lord by His plenary expansions as Nārāyaṇa with four hands and with different names like Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Govinda associates with him there.

The few different names of krishna

parā, transcendental.

Para-Transcendental

The forgetful living entities or conditioned souls have forgotten their relationship with the Supreme Lord, and they are engrossed in thinking of material activities. Just to transfer their thinking power to the spiritual sky, Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vyāsa has given a great number of Vedic literatures. First he divided the Vedas into four, then he explained them in the Purāṇas, and for less capable people he wrote the Mahābhārata. In the Mahābhārata there is given the Bhagavad-gītā. Then all Vedic literature is summarized in the Vedānta-sūtra, and for future guidance he gave a natural commentation on the Vedānta-sūtra, called Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We must always engage our minds in reading these Vedic literatures. Just as materialists engage their minds in reading newspapers, magazines and so many materialistic literatures, we must transfer our reading to these literatures which are given to us by Vyāsadeva; in that way it will be possible for us to remember the Supreme Lord at the time of death. That is the only way suggested by the Lord, and He guarantees the result: “There is no doubt.”

Different Vedic literature

He does not advise Arjuna simply to remember Him and give up his occupation. No, the Lord never suggests anything impractical. In this material world, in order to maintain the body one has to work. Human society is divided, according to work, into four divisions of social order – brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra. The brāhmaṇa class or intelligent class is working in one way, the kṣatriya or administrative class is working in another way, and the mercantile class and the laborers are all tending to their specific duties. In the human society, whether one is a laborer, merchant, administrator or farmer, or even if one belongs to the highest class and is a literary man, a scientist or a theologian, he has to work in order to maintain his existence. The Lord therefore tells Arjuna that he need not give up his occupation, but while he is engaged in his occupation he should remember Kṛṣṇa ( mām anusmara).

The 4 social classes and remembering krishna

indemnifies

Compensate for harm or loss

dharma-kṣetra (a place where religious rituals are performed)

Dharma-Ksetra A place where religious rituals are performed

The Lord has different names according to His different activities. For example, His name is Madhusūdana because He killed the demon of the name Madhu; His name is Govinda because He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses; His name is Vāsudeva because He appeared as the son of Vasudeva; His name is Devakī-nandana because He accepted Devakī as His mother; His name is Yaśodā-nandana because He awarded His childhood pastimes to Yaśodā at Vṛndāvana; His name is Pārtha-sārathi because He worked as charioteer of His friend Arjuna. Similarly, His name is Hṛṣīkeśa because He gave direction to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.

More of Krishnas different names

In this verse Arjuna is referred to as Guḍākeśa. Guḍākā means sleep, and one who conquers sleep is called guḍākeśa.

Gudakesa-A conquerer of sleep

This is because he is hovering on the mental plane and is certain to be attracted by the glaring material energy.”

Hovering on the mental plane attracts material energy

miscreant

A person who behaves badly and disobeys the law

According to Vedic injunctions there are six kinds of aggressors: (1) a poison giver, (2) one who sets fire to the house, (3) one who attacks with deadly weapons, (4) one who plunders riches, (5) one who occupies another’s land, and (6) one who kidnaps a wife. Such aggressors are at once to be killed, and no sin is incurred by killing such aggressors. Such killing of aggressors is quite befitting any ordinary man, but Arjuna was not an ordinary person.

6 agressors according to vedic injuction

Lord Rāma was so saintly that people even now are anxious to live in the kingdom of Lord Rāma ( rāma-rājya),

Rama rajya-Ramas kingdom

Kṛṣṇa as “Mādhava,” or the husband of the goddess of fortune,

Madhava- Husband of the goddess of fortune

One who is always engaged in sinful activities must utilize the process of atonement, called prāyaścitta. Without doing so, one surely will be transferred to hellish planets to undergo miserable lives as the result of sinful activities.

Prayascita- Atonement and Penance

Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization.

Material compasion is for the ignorant

“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, Paramātmā and Bhagavān.” 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 Paramātmā 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 Bhagavān 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 stude...

The Three absolute truthes,Brahman,Paramatma and Bhagavan

The Supreme Personality of Godhead 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 for the dead.

Those who are wise lament neither for the living or the dead

Any man who has perfect knowledge of the constitution of the individual soul, the Supersoul, and nature – both material and spiritual – is called a dhīra, or a most sober man. Such a man is never deluded by the change of bodies.

Dhira-One who has perfect understanding of the individual soul and the supersoul,as well as one who understands the spiritual and material

O son of Kuntī, 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, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

Happiness and distress are just because of sense perception

“The soul is atomic in size and can be perceived by perfect intelligence. This atomic soul is floating in the five kinds of air ( prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, samāna and udāna), is situated within the heart, and spreads its influence all over the body of the embodied living entities. When the soul is purified from the contamination of the five kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited.”

The atomic soul on the 5 kinds of air

prabhā, or superior energy.

Prabha=Superior energy

There are two kinds of souls – namely the minute particle soul ( aṇu-ātmā) and the Supersoul ( vibhu-ātmā). This is also confirmed in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.20) in this way: aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān ātmāsya jantor nihito guhāyām tam akratuḥ paśyati vīta-śoko dhātuḥ prasādān mahimānam ātmanaḥ “Both the Supersoul [Paramātmā] and the atomic soul [ jīvātmā] are situated on the same tree of the body within the same heart of the living being, and only one who has become free from all material desires as well as lamentations can, by the grace of the Supreme, understand the glories of the soul.” Kṛṣṇa is the fountainhead of the Supersoul also, as it will be disclosed in the following chapters, and Arjuna is the atomic soul, forgetful of his real nature; therefore he requires to be enlightened by Kṛṣṇa, or by His bona fide representative (the spiritual master).

Anu Atma=Particle Soul Vibhu Atma=Supersoul=Paramatma Atomic Soul=Jivatma

Manu-saṁhitā, the lawbook for mankind,

Manu-Samhita=Lawbook for mankind

Transference of the atomic individual soul to another body is made possible by the grace of the Supersoul. The Supersoul fulfills the desire of the atomic soul as one friend fulfills the desire of another. The Vedas, like the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, as well as the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, compare the soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird (Kṛṣṇa) is simply watching His friend. Of these two birds – although they are the same in quality – one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the activities of His friend. Kṛṣṇa is the witnessing bird, and Arjuna is the eating bird. Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one’s changing his position from one tree to another, or from one body to another. The jīva soul is struggling very hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master – as Arjuna agreed to do by voluntary surrender unto Kṛṣṇa for instruction – the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations. Both the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.1.2) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (4.7) confirm this: samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno ’nīśayā śocati muhyamānaḥ juṣṭaṁ yadā paśyaty anyam īśam asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ “Although the two birds...

The ordinary being and krisna in the material tree

sarva-gata – “living everywhere” – becomes meaningless.

Sarva-Gata=Living everywhere

There is always a class of philosophers, almost akin to the Buddhists, who do not believe in the separate existence of the soul beyond the body. When Lord Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā, it appears that such philosophers existed, and they were known as the Lokāyatikas and Vaibhāṣikas.

Loyayatikas,Vaibhasikas=Old philosophy which didnt believe of a soul beyond the body

mahā-bāhu, mighty-armed,

Maha-Bahu=Mighty Armed

Out of the four orders of social administration, the second order, for the matter of good administration, is called kṣatriya. Kṣat means hurt. One who gives protection from harm is called kṣatriya ( trāyate – to give protection). The kṣatriyas are trained for killing in the forest.

Ksat=To harm Trayate=To give protection Ksatriya=To give protection from harm

Arjuna was a famous fighter, and he attained fame by fighting many great demigods, including even Lord Śiva. After fighting and defeating Lord Śiva in the dress of a hunter, Arjuna pleased the lord and received as a reward a weapon called pāśupatāstra. Everyone knew that he was a great warrior. Even Droṇācārya gave him benedictions and awarded him the special weapon by which he could kill even his teacher. So he was credited with so many military certificates from many authorities, including his adoptive father Indra, the heavenly king. But if he abandoned the battle, not only would he neglect his specific duty as a kṣatriya, but he would lose all his fame and good name and thus prepare his royal road to hell. In other words, he would go to hell not by fighting but by withdrawing from battle.

Arjuna fought Shiva and Indra was his adoptive father