Why does Srila Prabhupada give two contradictory translations of the word “vraja” in 18.66?

Why does Srila Prabhupada give two different translations of the word “vraja” in 18.66: “go” in the word-to-word translation and “come” in the sentence translation?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
In the Bhagavad Gita 18.66, the famous Sarva Dharma and Vedic Tejya verse, Srila Prabhupada translates the word vraja in the word-to-word translation as go and in the sentence translation as come. Why these contradictory translations of the same word? Answer. The word vraja in the standard Sanskrit to English dictionary, which is known as the Monier-Williams dictionary, has seven meanings.
So relevant to us are three, especially as connected with the geographical movement or any sense of action, vraja can mean a path and vraja can mean moving along the path. So the word vraja in itself doesn’t mean either go nor does it mean come. It means move.
Of course, another meaning of the word vraja, in the locational sense, not directional sense, is a place where cows are kept, a cattle shed or a cow grazing land that is called as vraja. And in the context of Krishna Leela, it refers to Vrindavan, the abode where Krishna spent his childhood and performed wonderful pastimes there. So Krishna is using this word vraja to convey a very subtle and profound message.
Arjuna is attached to his relatives and because of that attachment, doesn’t want to do his service to Krishna. So Krishna is indicating to Arjuna, that just as the vraja-vasis gave up their attachment to their relatives, just so that they could serve me, especially the vraja-gopis, they gave up attachment to all the other family members, their elders, their equals, their juniors, everyone, so that they could serve Krishna, during the time of their after-leela. So Krishna is saying, go to that Vrindavan and learn from them the mood of surrender.
So therefore, he is using the word vraja. And that idea of learning from vraja-vasis, or going to vraja, which is actually what Uddhava did, as described in the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, chapters 46-47. Here it indicates to Arjuna that please learn that mood.
And then of course, for you, your service is here. You are on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. And by performing your service, you will come closer to me.
So the go sense of vraja conveys, that go, learn from my devotee how to serve me. And the come sense of the word, conveys that by rendering service in this way, you will come to me. So Srila Prabhupada is giving us a profound meaning, by these two translations of the word vraja.
And some impersonalists, some mayavadis, try to screw out an unscrupulous meaning from this vraja, by saying that actually it is not Krishna to whom we have to surrender, it is to somebody unborn within Krishna, beyond Krishna, to whom we have to surrender. And they try to use the word vraja to convey that. Yes, go and surrender to that.
But just to avoid any such misconceptions, Krishna uses the reference to maam very clearly. If Krishna wanted to surrender to somebody else, he would have not used the word maam. Immediately in the Sarva Dharma, maam ekam saranam vraja.
You have to surrender to me. And not only that, he is also telling that, aham tvam sarva papebhyo. Who will free you from the sins? It is not somebody who is beyond Krishna.
It is Krishna himself. Therefore, using the word vraja to indicate that Krishna is suggesting that somebody beyond him is to be surrendered to, is a gross violation of the text. This sort of interpretation of the text is called as torture by translation.
Torture by translation means that suppose a prisoner, a person who is innocent but he has been arrested, and he is told, did you commit this crime? He says, no, I didn’t. Slap him. Did you commit the crime? No.
Slap and kick and pound him. Did you commit the crime? So by torturing, we force words out of his mouth, which are actually not there, which he has not done and which he doesn’t want to speak. But the beating forces him to speak that.
So, trying to screw out the meaning that we have to surrender to somebody beyond Krishna is this sort of torture by translation. Because if you look at the context, this verse, what is it preceded and what is it succeeded by? It is preceded by another verse. 18.65 states that, So, Krishna is using the word me so unambiguously and repeatedly in this verse.
18.65 So, man is first eye. Second eye. Third eye.
Fourth eye. Fifth eye. You are me.
You are very dear to me. So, always think of me. Become my devotee.
Worship me. Offer your homage to me. In this way, you will come to me.
I promise you this because you are most dear to me. So, six times this word is used over here. My.
I. And if you look at the verse after this, immediately after this also, Krishna is telling, those who are envious of me, don’t give them this message. He is saying, those who are envious of me, don’t give the message to me. Message to them.
So, very clearly he is saying, Those who are envious of me. Actually, Krishna is referring to these Mayavadis here. They are envious of Krishna’s form.
They are envious of Krishna being the supreme enjoyer. And even then, verses before that or verses after that also, don’t allow any opportunity for any impersonalist interpretation of this verse. Krishna, in the future verses, says, If you preach my message, you will become very dear to me.
And no one has ever been as dear to me as one who preaches my message. So, explicitly, I, me is referring to, he is talking in personal terms of love. If there is merging, there is no love.
But Krishna is not only talking in personal terms, Krishna is talking in personal and devotional terms. For an impersonalist interpretation, there has to be a non-personal reference and a non-devotional reference. But there is neither non-personal nor devotional.
In fact, there is intensely personal and devotional reference over here. And that is why it is entirely unjustified to interpret this verse to screw out the meaning that we are referring to somebody beyond Krishna. Rather, Krishna is telling, learn from my devotees how to surrender.
Go to my devotees, learn how to surrender. And by surrendering to me, you will come to me. And that is the standard process that all of us also have to follow.
Yes, we can go in front of the deities, we can pray to Krishna. But Krishna says, learn from my devotees how to serve me. And when you serve me in that way, you will come to me.
So, when Krishna is saying, go, that is not to some impersonal, hallow, impersonal effulgence, he is saying, I should go to my personal representatives, my devotees, learn from them and surrender to me.