Does ISKCON have its commentary on the Mahabharata?
Question from Narendra Bhatti Prabhu Does ISKCON have its commentary on Mahabharata? Answer ISKCON belongs to the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition which focuses primarily on Krishna in the mood of Vrindavan and in the 500 years since Chaitanya Mahaprabhu reinvigorated the tradition of Krishna Bhakti and focused that tradition of Krishna Bhakti on the Madhuryaras. The Acharya has written many commentaries on Krishna's pastimes in Vrindavan.
In the Mahabharata Krishna's Vrindavan Leela is only indirectly referred say when Bhishma is glorifying Krishna to Duryodhana or in some other places and there is an appendix to the Mahabharata where Harivamsha talks about Krishna's pastimes quite a bit and there Vrindavan Leela is also talked about but in the Mahabharata the focus is not on Krishna and Madhuryaras and that's why the Gaudiya Vaishnava Acharyas have not commented on the Mahabharata. There have been commentators, Neelakanta is a very prominent commentator and his commentary has not yet been translated into English but the Acharyas have often referred to the Mahabharata even in our tradition as well as in other Vaishnava traditions for demonstrating some principles of pure devotion or principles of aparadharma. Now the Mahabharata focuses primarily on aparadharma that means Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
It doesn't focus so much on transcendental religion that is pure devotional service and that's one reason so because it doesn't focus on Krishna Bhakti in Vrindavan and also because it doesn't focus on pure devotional service so our Acharyas have not commented on it and Srila Prabhupada himself or Srila Prabhupada's disciples have also not commented on it but of course that does not mean that it is not an important book. It is an important book at the same time we have to understand that because it is so vast and because it contains various kinds of religious principles. So it is a Herculean task and we hope that in the future some devotee scholars will take up that challenge and do the translation along with commentation in English based on the Acharya's commentaries based on Neelakanta and other commentaries but that is going to be a huge task translation itself with 110,000 verses translation itself will take several years even decades and beyond that Madhvacharya is of the firm opinion as he has written in Mahabharata that Mahabharata has been interpolated quite a bit so the scholars who work on the Mahabharata will also have to take that into consideration and actually the Mahabharata because it is so vast and gives multiple levels of religious principles so it will require a lot of commentation and contextualization to explain what kind of religious principles are being talked about or being conveyed through the various discussions and the various incidents that are told in the Mahabharata.
So basically whatever we need for developing pure devotional service has been given to us by Shri Prabhupada in his books and by the Gaudiya Vaishnava Acharyas in their books and the commentaries so the fact that ISKCON does not have a commentary in the Mahabharata does not mean that there is any deficiency in the availability of transcendental literature for our own spiritual advancement and of course there is the Mahabharata has been rendered in English. Krishna Dharmaprabhu is a Srinisla Prabhupada disciple who has rewritten Mahabharata as a historical novel and he has done a very gripping narration and his rendition of the Mahabharata also won several awards in the genre of historical novels and that is if one is interested in reading the Mahabharata then that is a highly recommended book. It's gripping, it conveys the philosophical points in a subtle at the same time non-attractive way and it itself was also a big book so we can read that and Poornathra Giru is also translated the Mahabharata and his is of course.
Now both these translations are actually summary studies or rather they are selections. For example Krishna Dharmaprabhu told me that there are two sections in the Mahabharata, the Yaksha Yudhishthira Samvat and Bhishma's instructions to Yudhishthira. These are themselves so vast that they will become, his book is itself huge and these two itself, each of them will be five to six times his book.
So that means the book itself will become gigantic if we include the full length of the Mahabharata and then commentary on itself will be a huge book. So if we have interest in reading the Mahabharata we can read Krishna Dharmaprabhu's translation and we can focus on the literature that Shilpa Prabhupada and the Gaudiya Vishnu Acharyas have given us for elevating ourselves in our devotion or attraction towards Krishna and thereby preparing to return back to Krishna. Thank you.