Bhakti Shastri (042) – Bhagavad Gita Introduction

Podcast

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna So today we start with the Bhagavad Gita as a part of our Bhakti Shastri course So we’ll start with a prayer Which refers to Lord Krishna As the speaker of the Bhagavad Gita and every class will start with this prayer Sartham Arjunasya Adau The lord became the Sarthi of Arjuna And then after that in the beginning he did that He Gave the nectar of the Gita For what purpose? For the sake of The Benefit of all the three worlds Unto that Krishna who is the soul of all existence Krishna says Which is actually the soul of all existence Unto that lord Krishna offer obeisances so today i’ll discuss briefly with when the introduction and the preface We will not be able to go fully into the details of that, but we’ll just look at a topic wise overview To be able to understand In what mood Shri Prabhupada is presenting the Bhagavad Gita and in that i’ll also talk about the Setting of the Bhagavad Gita the background its importance in terms of the overall vedic context And then we will start with the Bhagavad Gita after that So in the book there is in Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita as it is there is a preface and there is an introduction So generally when books start off there can be various Things that come before the book which are also written But there can be a prologue prologue generally comes in a novel or a story Where some part of the event is told beforehand some part of the storyline is told beforehand Or something which sets up the scene is told beforehand So here we have setting the scene That gives an introduction which is not written by the author but is given by publishers And then along with that there can sometimes be a foreword So if a foreword is there the foreword is normally written by somebody other than the author So setting the scene can be written by the author sometimes But generally foreword means That’s some other person writing the word in the beginning fore is beginning So the idea of a foreword is that somebody whom the author Is Whom the author is connected with well or somebody who respects the author and somebody whom the audience respects so the foreword is a bridge between the Author and the audience so this sort of the in the foreword the author is introducing the author to the audience and telling about the book to the audience So apart from that there is the introduction. So normally if we have a class Then we often have the introduction of the preacher.
So that introduction of the speaker is like the foreword of a book So that introducts normally Normally speaking people don’t introduce themselves. Somebody else introduces that person So like that in the foreword is basically an introduction of the author and introduction of the book also So in Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita as it is we have a setting the scene Which describes which is written by the publishers which describes How Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita is important and basically it describes the background This was written especially for a western audience Because in the west Bhagavad Gita at that time was not so familiar and Suddenly what happened in the battlefield if that’s what the book starts with it seems a little odd So setting the scene basically was the historical context of the Bhagavad Gita how there is a war between the two dynasties Or the two branches of the Kuru dynasty And how that came to a head at Kurukshetra And just before the war was about to start the battle took place. So the historical background is given setting the scene Now introduction Is something which Srila Prabhupada wrote with the book And preface is something which Srila Prabhupada wrote just before he published the book so in a sense both are introductions But the introduction is much more directly focused on the content of the book And the preface is focused much more on the historical context Or the origins for which the book is written so the preface Is something which Srila Prabhupada has written and it is shorter much shorter than the book And then in the introduction So I will talk just two three points from the preface And then I will go to the introduction which is quite long and we will try to have a overview of the introduction So through both the preface and the introduction Srila Prabhupada is preparing the audience By getting them in the right mood to understand the Bhagavad Gita as it is So Srila Prabhupada called this Bhagavad Gita not just Bhagavad Gita but Bhagavad Gita as it is because several people had commented in improper and incorrect ways And Srila Prabhupada wanted Krishna’s message As it is originally intended to be presented to the people and that’s what he tries to do in his presentation of the Bhagavad Gita So let us look at the preface first So in the preface We have So there is setting the scene there is dedication there is preface So in the preface we will see Srila Prabhupada is describing the background in which the book was written And that background is also quite adventurous So Prabhupada writing Originally the book was written in the format that I was presented.
So this preface Was not there in the first publication of the book So the book story of how Bhagavad Gita was written is also very interesting Srila Prabhupada was in India and in 1965 he left India. Before that in the previous three years he published one one volume of the Bhagavatam. Actually it was the first canto produced in three volumes And when he had the first canto translations ready translation commentaries ready, then he felt himself equipped for going to this transcendental munishu To blow apart the illusion in the minds of people the effects of moral passion ignorance Now when Srila Prabhupada went to America, he got followers after a lot of struggle, but from 66 onwards he started getting followers But he was in a peculiar situation there In the sense that in India, he was a published author And he has a respected author his book with Bhagavatam volumes had been Sent to government libraries.
He had given a copy To the prime minister of India to the president of India and to many respectable people and they had even written positive statements about the book But in America, he was relatively unknown and his disciples were all Relatively uninfluential and unconnected They were mostly hippies Who had a lot of sincerity, but they did not have any material contacts and not so much material competence also So Srila Prabhupada started asking them to do The back to Godhead which he had started earlier and had stopped to start focussing on his books But then he wanted his books published even when he was in America He would very diligently make time especially in the early morning hours to write his commentaries So when he was writing in this way, just there was no way the book was working out These devotees and disciples had no idea how they published the book They went to some publishers, but now the American publishers had no reach in India And because Srila Prabhupada was not a very famous swami at that time The American publishers were thinking that who will who will take such a book? And how will be distributed so the prospects were not very bright So Brahmananda Prabhu, Haigalya Prabhu, all of them were trying to find out some way and one day The devotees got a letter from Macmillan. Macmillan was one of the biggest publishers At that time even now it is quite respected. So they said that we Please come to our office.
We are interested in So it was a Macmillan letterhead. Devotees went very enthusiastically there And there Disappointment awaited them They found that it was only one clerk in Macmillan’s office who wanted a Bhagavad Gita for himself And they were so disappointed. They already told Prabhupada.
They were excited. What will he tell Prabhupada? But as the clerk was talking with the devotee Who had come to give him a copy of the book also Suddenly the clerk became tense and he became very respectful and then he saw a person walking behind And he said that’s the chief officer I said that’s our boss one of the biggest persons in Macmillan. So that person just walked away into his office And Brahmananda Prabhu was thinking how can I somehow get to meet him? So As he was thinking about it, can I meet him? No, he’s very busy.
It takes a long time to get an appointment with him At that time suddenly that person He came out. He said Are you connected with some Swami? He said yes He said I’m a disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami and he said in low voice. A real Swami? He says yes.
Yes You know, we are making a collection of books on on the scriptures of the world So we have a we have a book on the Bible. We have published a Bible. We have published a Quran We have published for various religions, but we don’t have anything on the Hinduism So we want a Bhagavad Gita.
Has your Swami written anything on the Bhagavad Gita? He says yes, I’ve got a book Our full commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. He says yes He’s so excited. He said okay come and show it to me And they showed it so normally if a publisher has to publish they go through a long editorial process The publisher will say do this do that But they said okay if you got it then they actually went through it quite fast, but they told one thing He says we have got a standard length for all our books It’s something like 400 500 pages And he said that your Swami’s commentaries are too big So tell him to cut the commentaries and make the book to our pre-specified length Then Haigriva Prabhu writes in his Hare Krishna that he had the doleful task of deciding which of Shila Prabhupada’s purports were unnecessary So somehow he did that and then Macmillan published the book So after Macmillan published the book, the devotees were very happy.
Prabhupada also got a lot of respectability by that and at that time there were four words written by Algensberg who was a famous hippie musician could say famous or infamous But he appreciated Shila Prabhupada and there are two other people also relatively well-known who also wrote four words and then the book was published Now when the book was published It got positive reviews from many people many scholars also and in the book’s demand the book was wanted more and more And then Prabhupada felt that now that he had got the first breakthrough He decided that rather than getting the book published through Macmillan He decided that as it is they had cut down on The purports and much of what he had given was not there. So Prabhupada decided to start his own publishing house Which at that time was called Scon Press Later on that was renamed as Bhaktivedanta Book Trust So through Scon Press then he published the full Bhagavad Gita as it is And that full Bhagavad Gita as it is Had all the purports. So that’s actually Prabhupada writing that When this book was first published the original manuscript was unfortunately cut short to less than 400 pages without illustrations and without explanations for most of the original verses So that had happened because That had happened because Macmillan had a particular length that they wanted a book to be.
So actually Prabhupada So this preface is not there in the Macmillan published Bhagavad Gita. It was there in the Scon Press published. Subsequently that was published by Prabhupada by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and that’s how it has been published So Prabhupada writes that many scholars wanted the full manuscript.
That’s how I am representing it right now And then he further writes that Our Krishna Consciousness Movement is being accepted by people all over the world and many intelligent people And even what had happened at that time many hippies were there And the hippies were a peculiar phenomena alarming phenomena for many in American history They had rebelled against what America had stood for and values of material progress and material happiness, they wanted something more And in the hope of something more they had been allured by drugs And drugs were taking them down not up So many of them were coming to great. So Prabhupada writes that many of my students parents have come and appreciated me For how their lives have been transformed And then he says there’s no credit for me. Actually the credit is that I have repeated the message of my spiritual master And then Prabhupada makes a very Basic point that people are misinterpreting the Bhagavad Gita and that’s the point which he will repeat again and again in his purpose and finally he says Our only purpose Our only purpose Is to present the Bhagavad Gita as it is in order to guide the conditioned soul To the same purpose for which Krishna descends to this planet once in a day of Brahma or even 8.6 Billion or every 8.6 billion years so actually Prabhupada is Suddenly taken from a historical context which people can relate.
He says oh in the west people do not understand Oh, what do you mean by this 8.6? Who is Brahma? What is this? But Prabhupada is not just connected with the Reality of the world around he’s also connected with the reality of the tradition that he represents And it’s just seamlessly from here to there And he says this is a historical book It is spoken by the supreme lord who descends once and we are trying to fulfil that same purpose And he says if you understand Yeah, if you understand such understanding of Bhagavad Gita That means what is such understanding? Understanding The understanding what purpose Krishna spoke is really profitable and authorised for the welfare of human society in fulfilling the mission of life So what the mission of life will be we will talk about it later And then he talks about how we are all servants of Krishna and we are meant to serve him And if we do that, then we will be able to be happy. Otherwise, we will not be happy And then he talks about If you go down below the lord lord wants this and the lord demands it One has to understand the central point of the Bhagavad Gita What is the central point of the Bhagavad Gita? That actually we are parts of Krishna and we are meant to serve Krishna And if you don’t serve Krishna, you become miserable when you start serving Krishna, then we will become happy So Prabhupada the lord wants it and the lord demands it When he’s saying that that’s what he’s calling just come to me Be happy with me And he says that Actually speaking even if one purpose even one person becomes a devotee That’s the last sentence that Prabhupada writes If even one man becomes a pure devotee of the lord, we shall consider our attempt a success So this is actually Prabhupada’s goal. It’s not to become a famous scholar a popular author Prabhupada’s goal in presenting Bhagavad Gita is to fulfil the purpose of Krishna And what is the purpose of Krishna that we all return back to him? And returning back to him means becoming the pure devotees of Krishna.
That is what Srila Prabhupada is presenting through his books so let us look at the Introduction now Now in the introduction Srila Prabhupada starts with his prayers And here there is a prayer to Radharani And actually speaking in the full Bhagavad Gita as it is. This is the only reference to Radharani After Srila Prabhupada doesn’t refer to Radharani even once And of course indirectly he will refer and we’ll discuss in Bhagavad Gita also how some level there is reference to Vajabhakti But the point is Prabhupada doesn’t refer to all this So much and then after all the prayers Now Srila Prabhupada explains the Point that the Bhagavad Gita is like a manual or a prescription so Now when a prescription is given the potency of the prescription Will be valid when it is followed And what is what does it mean follow? Okay, whatever is the doctor said over there. We have to find out what it what the doctor meant over there Okay, take this three times a day morning afternoon evening Now If I start thinking, you know morning, what does morning mean? Actually in india morning time is different africa morning point is different And america morning time is different.
So actually morning means evening And as far as he’s not waiting in the morning is to be taken in the evening And if I start thinking the doctor said don’t take sugar Oh, actually sugar, you know, what is sugar sugar is simply a white substance so the idea is that Uh Substances which are of a particular colour should not be taken So if you take sugar, but you put some coating on it so that it is no longer white in colour, then you can take it Now if I start interpreting and misinterpreting the doctor’s prescription like this, I won’t get the benefit Similarly Prabhupada explains That the prescription has to be followed if we want to benefit And for that purpose he is present in the bhagavad-gita according to the prescription which has been given in the gita itself And what is the prescription? Prabhupada quotes from the fourth chapter where he says that actually This has to be understood in a mood of devotion Without that mood of devotion the import of the bhagavad-gita will remain lost And then what is this mood of devotion? Prabhupada talks about the five rasas And right now in the bhagavad-gita itself introduction he introduces the point that We are eternal god is eternal. We have eternal relationship with god And it’s that eternal relationship which is to be developed So he talks about the five rasas and then he moves forward And he talks about how arjuna has also accepted krishna as the supreme lord And then talks about krishna’s supreme position now The whole point of this discussion till here Unless one reads the bhagavad-gita in a submissive spirit It is very difficult to understand bhagavad-gita because it is a great mystery submissive spirit is the same as this content spirit of devotion Then prabhupada talks about the after setting this mood first. He has himself offered devotional prayers And after offering those devotional prayers, then he has said that this is the devotional mood in which one should understand And then after that he starts Then what is the bhagavad-gita? The purpose of the bhagavad-gita is to deliver mankind from the nescience of material existence This is the fundamental purpose of the gita to deliver people from the miseries of material existence And then he talks about how we are all in misery, but very few people think about spiritual enquiry and Those you’re all Prabhupada all about to be devoured by the tigress of ignorance But we should enquire about spirituality So he writes over here actually Actually, we are all swallowed by the tigress of nescience, but the lord is very merciful upon living entities, especially human beings So what does the tigress of ignorance mean Is of course a metaphorical usage usage The tigress of ignorance refers basically to the fact that we have forgotten our spiritual identity And bhagavad-gita is meant to rescue us from that And then Prabhupada goes to Baldev Vidyabhushan’s introduction Prabhupada has dedicated his bhagavad-gita to Baldev Vidyabhushan who gave the govinda bhashya commentary And on the vedanta sutra and in Baldev Vidyabhushan’s gita bookshun, which is his commentary he describes That the bhagavad-gita deals with five basic truths So now analytical frameworks are always helpful for us to understand spiritual truths What do we mean by analytical frameworks? Whenever a subject to be discussed, so for example when a speaker is giving a class so in In any mode of functioning or communicating or even thinking Basically there are two things in operation.
There is analysis and there is synthesis So analysis means taking things apart and synthesis means bringing them together So, for example, we may say that okay today some speaker may say today i’ll speak about five points Then we need one two, three, four five So analysis means okay. These are the points we have spoken but synthesis means okay. How are these points connected together? If somebody says today i’ll speak about five points.
I’ll speak about You know, what is the? What is the prospect of India’s cricket team winning the 2015 world cup? Then i’ll talk about What is happening in Uttaranchal and after the floods were there then i’ll talk about the political situations in babi Then i’ll talk about the state of the mafia controlling italy and then i’ll talk about terrorism in pakistan See what is the connection? You know, we see that this is basically becomes like a news report then So now news report, you know, there is it’s not like when a person is reading out a news report There is a flow from this point to this point Now just one news is over next news starts even in the newspaper. Sometimes you will see that there are you know Sometimes it looks so terrible a news flash is there The cricket score given and below that there is a given say 139 for three india and then below it is 139 people killed in earthquake So from the news perspective, there’s just two news There are human lives which have been killed, but sometimes the cricket score will be higher than the news than the news of people being killed Because for it’s just figures so Now analysis just doesn’t mean separating. It is also separating in terms of conceptual thinking but the point synthesis means how does it come together? so Generally the scriptures present knowledge in a synthetic way Synthetic way means that things are presented as a living culture So for example when a child learns language The child and my baby is learning to speak the mother doesn’t tell okay, okay, but now my child I’ll tell you this is a noun.
This is a word. This is an adjective. This is a pronoun.
This is an adverb now Yes You know and they start the child starts speaking and after the child grows then and the child has already learned language Then analysis comes afterwards He’s okay. You learned the sentence. Okay.
You know, this is first part of it is a subject this part is a predicate and subject generally there is a Preposition there may be a noun and the linking the two is a word and again There will be a noun or there may be a phrase. There may be a clause. So all these concepts come afterwards so analysis Is generally what we do to get a clearer understanding, but when it comes to functioning we need synthesis so The Bhagavad Gita is presented as a synthetic body of knowledge And the Acharyas do analysis to help us understand to help us get a conceptual foothold And after we get the foothold then we have to integrate it all and then we’ll get a better understanding So Prabhupada quotes from Baldev Vidya Bhushan and says that there are these five subjects that have been talked about So what are those five subjects? He says now Prabhupada doesn’t quote Baldev Vidya Bhushan over here But he says entails the comprehension of five basic truths So, what are these basic truths They’re actually Ishwara, Jeeva, Ishwara, Prakriti, Kaala and Karma So Jeeva is the soul, Ishwara is the living entity Now among these five if you see Jeeva and Ishwara are conscious Prakriti, Kaala and Karma Now Prabhupada says Prakriti and Kaala are also eternal like Jeeva and Ishwara Karma is not eternal.
Karma is temporary And exactly what are these and how they are related that is going to be discussed in the Bhagavad Gita And Prabhupada makes some important points about it in this purport So as far as Ishwara is concerned Prabhupada quotes the Bhagavad Gita to show how Krishna is the Ishwara And then what is Jeeva? Jeeva is a part of the Ishwara just as Prabhupada used two examples A particle of gold is also gold, a drop of water is also salty. Similarly here parts are important. Prakriti is material nature.
So Prakriti also belongs to Krishna and Prabhupada introduces the modes Right now in the purport itself and then he says what is Karma? When we act under Prakriti for some desire that is called Karma Now after describing this he talks about the relationship between Jeeva and Ishwara So he finally says The conscious he may be but he cannot be perfectly or supremely conscious. So right in the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita Prabhupada is pointing out there’s a difference between The Jeeva and the Ishwara. They are not the same.
So he’s refuting Mayavada over here And again, he makes the same point. We should not forget this And then he talks about how a devotee is transcendental to the material modes so When we are materially contaminated we are called conditioned So it’s interesting we use the word conditioned soul very often. So what does the word conditioned soul mean? Generally when we talk about our conditions in some advertisements it means the conditions apply or sometimes we have The word conditions used for some treat some treaties are made.
Okay, this agreement contract will be made provided these these conditions are there So in what context is what sense is Prabhupada using the word conditioned over here? So It is in the context that In what sense or context it is and the soul’s happiness Depends on so many conditions that are not in the control of the soul When I have a conditioned soul, first of all, if I want to enjoy my body has to be healthy Not only that apart from that. I also have to have a sense of just I want to enjoy sense of this Have to be a good enough quality And the circumstances have to be suitable for enjoyment And after that I get enjoyment and even then also because the body’s capacity to enjoy is limited my enjoyment also remains limited So in that sense, I don’t get really as much of the enjoyment as I would like to get This is the meaning of condition Now we are all called conditioned souls And to become liberated doesn’t mean to merge into some formless as Prabhupada quotes in the Bhagavatam We are reinstated in our swaroopa as the servants of the lord Then that is actually real liberation and What is contaminated consciousness Prabhupada explains In contaminated consciousness, I am means I am the lord of all I survey. I am the enjoyer So I am the controller.
I am the enjoyer and then Prabhupada basically in this introduction Prabhupada is giving the whole Introductory philosophy of Krishna consciousness in a nutshell. So he also gives the example of The stomach and the hands all of us know that example the hand needs to nourish the stomach not just nourish itself Separately, so it’s remarkable how much the Prabhupada condenses in the introduction So he gives practically the whole philosophy of Krishna consciousness in a nutshell over here Talks about the lord’s form is Satchitananda vigraha. The lord is not impersonal Now Here’s a nice very good sutra like statement then he talks about well prakriti talks about prakriti is complete There is complete facility for the small complete units To realise the complete and all sorts of common completeness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge of the complete So this is something similar to what Prabhupada has said in the Isopanishad introduction So there’s complete facility for the complete small complete units living entities to realise the complete So we as souls can Realise the supreme Lord.
What do you mean a complete facility? We have the capacity for Brahma Jigyasa. We have the advanced spiritual consciousness by which each one of us can realise the absolute truth and And by that we can experience happiness so Only when we realise the supreme Lord do we attain completeness and all sorts of incompleteness that we experience right now So I don’t feel oh, I don’t have this. I don’t have that.
I don’t have that. I don’t have that They are incomplete. They are experienced due to incomplete knowledge of the complete to incomplete knowledge that means People do not have proper understanding of what are the values and goals of life And that’s why they are suffering right now.
Incomplete knowledge of the complete and then Prabhupada talks about the infallibility of Vedic knowledge that we have discussed in the Isopanishad introduction And then this is actually very similar to the introduction of the Isopanishad Where Prabhupada talks about how we should rise above the animal platform and come to the human platform. So what is Prabhupada doing over here? He’s actually essentially explaining how what kind of karma we should do in the world And then he talks about Sanatana Dharma. This is a very important point That What do we mean by Sanatana Dharma Prabhupada, Sanatana Dharma does not refer to any sectarian process of living.
It is the eternal function of the eternal living entities in relationship with the eternal supreme Lord So here It’s important to understand that the Bhagavad Gita is not teaching any sectarian religion You know, we know very well that the Bhagavad Gita doesn’t talk about Hinduism The Bhagavad Gita was spoken thousands of years ago and the word Hindu has come into the vocabulary less than thousand years ago It’s relatively very recent entry into the vocabulary of any of the Indian languages So the Bhagavad Gita is talking about universal truths and Prabhupada also differentiates between Religion and Dharma So Dharma itself refers to something that is intrinsic that which is Unchangeable that which is eternal and Sanatana Dharma emphasises that all the more So we will discuss about the concept of Sanatana Dharma later when we talk about Dharma in the Bhagavad Gita But suffice it to say over here that this word Dharma refers to intrinsic nature and Sanatana Dharma refers to the intrinsic set of activities that are intrinsic nature for all of eternity That which is intrinsic will not be go will not be changed and Prabhupada quotes Sanatana Goswami saying that Sanatana Dharma is unchangeable. It has no limitation. So Prabhupada says limitation means there is no change also So other dharmas can change and what is Sanatana Dharma? Prabhupada quotes Chetan Charitama saying that actually we are all the servants of the Lord Then he addresses some technicalities from the Bhagavad Gita saying that how there is a spiritual world and demigod worship is not Desirable.
Demigod worship does not lead to Sanatana results. Only the worship of Krishna will lead to Sanatana results And then after that he says that it is for the goal of life is to go back to the spiritual world This material world is like a reflection of the spiritual world and we need to surrender to Krishna Then we will attain the spiritual world and how do we surrender to Krishna? By remembering him constantly So then he talks about various spiritualists and then he says basically we have to contemplate, remember Krishna This is the practicality of the message of the Gita that we have to remember Krishna along with that we have to serve him And then here itself Prabhupada gives a very esoteric example So it is actually quoted by Chetan Mahaprabhu to Rupan Sanatana Goswami When they asked him how can we stay beautiful to you while being engaged in the material world? And he told him that actually you can do that by practising the devotional service That is the way a married woman loves her paramour So this is at the very least an inflammatory example Why would Chetan Mahaprabhu who practised the highest levels of morality That he was a strict sanyasi, that one time in a trance when he heard the Gita Govinda being sung He ran towards the sound of the Gita Govinda And then his servant stopped him and he said it’s a woman And Chetan Mahaprabhu froze at that time and he said if I had done anything inappropriate I would have died You have saved my life But Chetan Mahaprabhu was so strict about the rules of morality Why is he giving an inappropriate example? That seems to be inappropriate to us Just as a paramour, a woman who has a lover other than her husband And she is thinking of her husband but she doesn’t want her husband to be suspicious So she does all her duties at home, not only with normal attention but with better attention So that her husband doesn’t suspect anything And then she is thinking of her paramour and whenever she gets her meets her paramour So now why would somebody give an example of something immoral To teach something which is spiritual The point is that the acharyas will use, as you said Chetan Mahaprabhu himself is God himself They will use examples which convey the point So now that there is promiscuity in the world, that there are affairs and there are extramarital relationships This is simply a fact of life It’s definitely not a pleasant, it’s definitely not a moral or recommended thing to do But it’s simply a fact of life So what is a fact of life and what can be used to convey a point in an unforgettable way If somebody gives an example like that First of all, few things attract people’s attention as much as male-female interactions If we could go into look at people’s minds and look at what is their favourite list So male-female interaction will be a perpetual top ranker So any example that will involve male-female interaction that will immediately catch people’s attention And basically the point is to convey a message So it’s not in any way to condone, condone means to allow or worst still to recommend that sort of action The point is to convey a message and the message that is conveyed is very clear The message is that just as a woman, now these sort of things happen in life Just as a woman actually when she is attracted to a man other than her husband What does she do? She does her duty to her husband well Because she doesn’t want to hurt him to be suspicious But at the same time that attraction, because of that attraction she thinks of her lover also So similarly a devotee has two duties, the material duties and the spiritual duties So the material duties are important at our level And we have to do them well At the same time the material is foreign to our nature Because the material is foreign to our nature it is alien And the spiritual, the devotional is actually our true nature But right now we are caught in shackles, we are caught in the shackles of matter and we cannot reach them out So a devotee is internally thinking of Krishna while externally engaging in the material world So the essence of the example is not the morality or the immorality The essence of the example is the intensity of the remembrance And how that intense remembrance can be invoked by strong affection, by strong attraction, by intense desire So Prabhupada writes immediately after the example that actually The art of Krishna consciousness, when Arjuna says that I can’t remember Krishna Then he says, this is the art, if the mind is engaged in Krishna service the senses automatically engage in Krishna This is the art and this is also the secret of Bhagavad Gita Total absorption in the thought of Sri Krishna So the point of the example is not to condone morality It is to give an example of absorption in something different from what one is doing At the same time being able to do what one is doing well So that’s how a devotee doesn’t give up material duties A devotee is absorbed in Krishna At the same time the devotee does also the material duties well This is the art and the art has to be done Somebody may say, what do I do? How do I do like this? Do I develop a spirit personality? I’m doing my work on my computer in my office At the same time I’m thinking of Krishna How do I sort of create two lanes in my consciousness? One doing my material duties and the other doing my spiritual duties No, we don’t have to bisect our consciousness like that Bhakti actually integrates the whole thing Now we see our office and our profession and our worldly responsibilities Also as a part of our long-term welfare How is it a part of our long-term welfare? All the soul and the body are different Bhakti is so wonderful And the body and everything in relation with the body can also be used for Krishna’s service How do we use that in Krishna’s service? That is the art So when we make ourselves devoted to Krishna When we do sadhana bhakti seriously And by that we become fixed in the devotion of Krishna Then with our mind attached to Krishna Everything else also becomes connected with Krishna We understand this is not just my job I’m doing this for Krishna’s service This is not just my family There are Krishna’s family members This is not just my house, this is Krishna’s house So the purpose of the example is to demonstrate how one can be totally absorbed in Krishna Then Prabhupada makes a very interesting statement That modern man has struggled very hard to reach the moon But he has not tried very hard to elevate himself spiritually So now here still Prabhupada is giving a very powerful example To illustrate the point that There is something which people are very proud of Oh we have gone to the moon So and then it has been years and years Decades of research and endeavour Why thousands of scientists went into that? So Prabhupada is giving an example There also elevation is there So here also elevation is there So if we were ready to put in effort for that Why not put in effort for this? So by comparing the elevation of consciousness To that which is considered the crowning achievement of the 20th century In fact many people consider it to be the crowning achievement in the history of humanity To try to go to the higher planets Go to reach the moon So he puts the Krishna conscious achievement also as a challenge Yes it is not easy absorbing the mind in Krishna But if you can endeavour so much for something material Why not endeavour similarly for something spiritual? And then he says there is a sadhana bhakti by which you can do it Shravanam kirtanam Vishnu And then he says this is actually all encompassing Everybody can practise it And he quotes from Bhagavad Gita itself And even the women, children, Vaishya, Shudras All of them can practise it So no material disqualifications are there Which matter in the process of bhakti Everybody can be incorporated in the process of bhakti And then he quotes from the Gita Mahatmya Which comes in the Padma Purana And he talks about various glories of the Gita So So if somebody studies the Gita Then one’s past life karma will not affect that person And then further So first what are the Gita Mahatmya’s points? The first point, first verse we didn’t discuss is So in Gita Shastra we have So if one studies the Bhagavad Gita what will happen? Person will become free from fear and misery Now how that will happen in the next verse? Actually the sinful reactions won’t come And third is, not only sinful reactions won’t come But sinful desires will also go away So first is our past reactions won’t come That will stop some suffering Then also our sinful desires will go away This is more important And then has further glorification If so many gifts are available Then why does one need anything else? That when the Supreme Lord has himself spoken the Bhagavad Gita Why do we need anything else? Why do we need anything else? This Supreme Lord has himself spoken This one book is enough for us Now what does it mean? If you are reading too many books Understand the essential principles of this book And then of course you can read Bhagavatam and CC They are elaboration in the principles So the point is Be focused to understand the fundamentals And then you can’t understand them by reading too many books Running here and there Focus on this And then he further says that The ultimate result will be That if one drinks nectar of the Bhagavad Gita One will not have to take birth again Then we have quoted this also earlier in our Shastra also How all the Upanishads are like a cow And also the essence of a cow is available in the milk Sarvopanishadho kao dogdha gopalanna Parthavatsasudhir bhokta Dugdham geetamritam mahat Dugdham geetamritam mahat So the nectar of the Bhagavad Gita Is like the milk The milk is the essence of the cow Similarly Geetopanishad Is the essence of all the Upanishads And therefore it concludes by saying that Let there be only one scripture for the world Bhagavad Gita That’s enough That can deliver all people from material existence And Let there be one work service to Krishna Let there be one God Krishna And let there be one mantra That is connected with Krishna And Draupadi says that mantra is the Hare Krishna mantra So this is how Avalokiteshvara Prabhupada In his introduction Sets up a devotional mood for the studying of the Gita He introduces us to The purpose of the Gita To rescue us from material existence Then talks about the five tattvas And how they interact And then when he talks elaborately about the karma Which people are doing And then he says the karma Should be made in accordance with our Sanatana Dharma So instead of doing any and every karma We choose to do the karma that will be Sanatana Dharma And that will give us The result of going back to the spiritual world And then in that he contrasts Sanatana and non-Sanatana Dharmas And then finally He focusses after telling The essential message of the Gita Then he focusses on the glories of the Gita As has been told in other scriptures Now Krishna Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita The Gita has become by far The most widely distributed Bhagavad Gita In the English language And it has also become one of the most Important works Not just within the Krishna Consciousness Movement But in the study, in the history of Gitas Reaching out to the wider world It has become one of the most important works In modern Gita scholarship And also It represents our vast tradition So in our Sampradaya Let us look at the Bhagavad Gita’s Role Before we Conclude The Bhagavad Gita is a broad Vedic book It does talk about Krishna’s supremacy But also talks about other paths So Because it talks about other paths also It is An integrated presentation Which ultimately after talking about other paths Establishes the supremacy of Bhakti So in our tradition The Bhagavad Gita is quoted It is one of the most important books And it is quoted sometimes in the Chetan Charitam Chetan Mahaprabhu quoted it several times But the Sandarbhas Are the places where Jiyu Goswami also quoted from the Bhagavad Gita quite a few times The first commentary in our Sampradaya on the Bhagavad Gita Was written by Vishwanath Chakravartha Thakur So he wrote Sarartha Varshini And Sarartha Darshini The commentaries in the Bhagavad Gita And the Bhagavatam So Sarartha Varshini was his commentary Sarartha, the essential meaning Varshini, that is showers Then that was the commentary which he wrote Now of course before this Before our Sampradaya By our I am talking about the Gaudiya Sampradaya Before that of course We have Shankacharya who has written his commentary Then Ramacharya has written his commentary Madhacharya has written his commentary And there are many many commentaries in the Bhagavad Gita Which are written historically also So we are talking right now about our Sampradaya So After Vishwanath Chakravartha Thakur Baldevidya Bhushan also wrote a commentary On the Bhagavad Gita And Prabhupada said the disciple Generally doesn’t write a commentary on the book On which the spiritual master has written Unless it serves some specific purpose Like we see that Bhaktisandh Chakravartha Thakur has written a commentary On the Chaitanya Charita Amrit But Prabhupada also wrote a commentary On the Chaitanya Charita Amrit Now Prabhupada largely takes his commentary from Bhaktisandh Chakravartha Thakur’s commentary only But that’s not the only thing that he does He takes from He also integrates With his insights And he also gives instructions to his scorned devotees Specific say with respect to interaction With Gaudiya Mat Other Gaudiya devotees But essentially it’s not wrong to comment If the Context requires And Baldevidya Bhushan He had to establish The authenticity of a Sampradaya So every Sampradaya for it to become authorised Considered authorised in the traditional Vedic circles It has to have its commentary On Shruti, Smriti and Nyaya So Among the Shrutis Baldevidya Bhushan commented on the Upanishads Smriti, Bhagavad Gita is a book And he commented on that also And Nyaya is Vedanta Sutra Baldevidya Bhushan commented on that also So that way he established In the intellectual circles of his time The respectability, the credibility The authenticity of the Gaudiya Sampradaya And it is for that purpose That his commentary was written. It’s called Gita Bhushan And although There is Vishwanath Chakravartha Thakur’s commentary Which is quite russic in many ways We will discuss the difference in one of the verses In the first chapter When we come to that But Baldevidya Bhushan’s commentary Focusses more on Tattva It goes more into the philosophy Chakravarti Bhat’s commentary goes more on Rasa Both are important But Baldevidya Bhushan’s purpose primarily was to establish Solidly the philosophical Foundations of our Sampradaya And accordingly he presented His commentary And then Bhaktanath Thakur wrote brief commentaries Actually When he Was going through Baldevidya Bhushan Chakravarti Bhat’s commentary He basically translated that And added notes at several places So those He wrote two books One is called Vidvat Ranjan And the other is Rasik Ranjan Vidvat Ranjan is Based on Baldevidya Bhushan’s commentary Vidvat is wise, Ranjan is those who delight The delight of the wise And Rasik Ranjan Is the, Rasik is those who are The relishers, those who enjoy Rasa So the Ranjan, the delight For those who are the relishers Of mellows, he wrote commentary On that also And Prabhupada wrote a commentary Of course it is Bhagavad Gita as it is And he derives his commentary primarily From Baldevidya Bhushan’s commentary Wherever he talks about the Acharyas Of course it refers to various Acharyas also But primarily his commentary derives From Baldevidya Bhushan as well as from Other sources and of course Prabhupada is presenting it all for the modern context Now In Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita as it is He has given us A devotional understanding Of the Bhagavad Gita Emphasising systematically And repeatedly How Bhakti is the essence of the teachings Of the Bhagavad Gita And that’s why he also Establishes credibility of what his presentation By giving the disciplic succession right in the beginning Of the Bhagavad Gita So we will begin our discussion of the Bhagavad Gita From our next class