When Krishna talks about various yogas progressively, why does Prabhupada focus on bhakti alone?

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Transcript

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Thank you. So in the 56 chapters, there are verses like merge and transcendence or attain transcendence which seem to have an impersonalist connotation.
So is Krishna talking progressively through various levels of realization? And why is Prabhupada not progressive? Why does he directly give bhakti and Krishna everywhere? Firstly, yes, Krishna is being progressive and the impersonal realization is also an exalted level of realization. It is not that it’s only when the impersonal realization becomes offensive of the personal form of Krishna, then it becomes a problem, then it becomes Mayavada. But as such, Brahman realization and attainment of Brahman is no ordinary thing.
It’s even those people who do karma kanda for a long time, which is itself difficult, if they don’t get it, they’ll have to renounce the world and practice karma kanda for a long time, then they may get Brahman. So it’s firstly, from the perspective of progressive spiritual evolution, even impersonal realization is a very lofty realization. It’s almost the penultimate realization.
But from the perspective of the ultimate, the penultimate is, it’s insignificant because the two are not just a continuity, but the ultimate just goes in so high up that it becomes in its own category, you could say. So, the, Krishna does talk about impersonal realization, and yes, when he’s talking about Karma Yoga, Vishwanatha Chakraborty explained that if Karma Yoga is done without a proper understanding of Bhagwan, it can lead to impersonal liberation. If it’s done with a proper understanding of Bhagwan, then it can lead to Shantarasa or some of the lower rasas in the spiritual world.
He gives quite a technical analysis of that. But essentially, yes, Krishna does talk progressively. Now, Sri Prabhupada uses a particular strategy in his translations of Bhagavad Gita.
That is that he doesn’t get into the technicalities. He focuses on the conclusion. He is primarily writing for an audience which is not even familiar with Krishna, not even familiar with the Atma, not even familiar with the basics of spirituality.
And for them, he has to make the message intellectually. So, if he, while giving a message book, writing a commentary which is meant for entire people, starts going into the technicalities of everything, already the book is quite big, 800-900 pages, and then it will become even bigger. So, Prabhupada’s strategy in general in translating scripture is to connect everything with the ultimate conclusion, and to consistently focus on the conclusion.
Prabhupada is aware of the nuances. It is not that Prabhupada is simply giving a bhakti commentary. If you read the 2.72, last verse of the second chapter, there he says that, so in this way, in this chapter, Karma Yoga has been taught, and a hint of bhakti has been given.
The hint of bhakti, Krishna Chakrakur explains in 2.61, yuktaasita matparaha, matparaha is about bhakti. But, while Krishna talks about matparaha only, Prabhupada says a hint of bhakti has been given, but still Prabhupada in his purports has not given a hint of bhakti, but a full picture of bhakti practically. He’s talked about Ambarish Maharaj, Savai Manaha, Krishnapada Aravinda, engaging all the mind and senses in Krishna’s service, and all that.
So it’s not that Prabhupada is simplistically giving bhakti everywhere, Prabhupada is aware of what is happening, and he’s using a particular strategy over there for teaching the message, for making sure that the essential conclusion of the Gita is accessible to his audience, and Prabhupada himself later said that I would like to write, when you asked which books would you like to translate, he said I would like to translate the Bhagavad Gita. Again, I said, Prabhupada, you already did? He said, there are so many commentators, I can comment again based on another commentator’s perspective. So Bhagavad Gita is a very important book for understanding emphatically the conclusion of the Gita, and for understanding the step-by-step progression, you may also have to read other devotees, other Acharya’s books, or other devotees’ books, and by that we can get an understanding of the Gita’s technicality.
Even if we don’t understand the technicality, we understand the conclusion still, the purpose of studying the Gita will be fulfilled, and that Prabhupada ensures is done through his Bhagavad Gita as it is.