1 Bg 2: Contents of the Gita Summarized
2
3 Chapter 2
4
5 Contents of the Gita Summarized
6
7 Bg 2.1
8
9 TEXT 1
10
11 TRANSLATION
12
13 Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind
> depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusudana, Krsna,
> spoke the following words.
14
15 PURPORT
16
17 Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of
> ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul
> is self-realization. The word "Madhusudana" is significant
> in this verse. Lord Krsna killed the demon Madhu, and now
> Arjuna wanted Krsna to kill the demon of misunderstanding
> that had overtaken him in the discharge of his duty. No one
> knows where compassion should be applied. Compassion for
> the dress of a drowning man is senseless. A man fallen in
> the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing
> his outward dress-the gross material body. One who does not
> know this and laments for the outward dress is called a
> sudra, or one who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a
> ksatriya, and this conduct was not expected from him. Lord
> Krsna, however, can dissipate the lamentation of the
> ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad-gita was
> sung by Him. This chapter instructs us in self-realization
> by an analytical study of the material body and the spirit
> soul, as explained by the supreme authority, Lord Sri Krsna.
> This realization is possible when one works without
> attachment to fruitive results and is situated in the
> fixed conception of the real self.
18
19 Bg 2.2
20
21 TEXT 2
22
23 TRANSLATION
24
25 The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear
> Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are
> not at all befitting a man who knows the value
> of life. They lead not to higher planets but to
> infamy.
26
27 PURPORT
28
29 Krsna and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are identical.
> Therefore Lord Krsna is referred to as Bhagavan
> throughout the Gita. Bhagavan is the ultimate in the
> Absolute Truth. Absolute Truth is realized in three phases
> of understanding, namely Brahman, or the impersonal all-
> pervasive spirit; Paramatma, or the localized aspect of the
> Supreme within the heart of all living entities; and
> Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna.
> In the Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.11) this conception of the
> Absolute Truth is explained thus:
30
31 vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
> brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate
32
33 "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, Paramatma, and Bhagavan."
34
35 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 Paramatma 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
> Bhagavan 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 students of the three different phases
> are not in the same category.
36
37 The Sanskrit word bhagavan is explained by the great
> authority Parasara Muni, the father of Vyasadeva. The
> Supreme Personality who possesses all riches, all strength,
> all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation is
> called Bhagavan. There are many persons who are very rich,
> very powerful, very beautiful, very famous, very learned,
> and very much detached, but no one can claim that he
> possesses all riches, all strength, etc., entirely. Only
> Krsna can claim this because He is the Supreme Personality
> of Godhead. No living entity, including Brahma, Lord Siva,
> or Narayana, can possess opulences as fully as Krsna.
> Therefore it is concluded in the Brahma-samhita by Lord
> Brahma himself that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Personality
> of Godhead. No one is equal to or above Him. He is the
> primeval Lord, or Bhagavan, known as Govinda, and He is the
> supreme cause of all causes:
38
39 isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah anadir adir
> govindah sarva-karana-karanam
40
41 "There are many personalities possessing the qualities of
> Bhagavan, but Krsna is the supreme because none can excel
> Him. He is the Supreme Person, and His body is eternal,
> full of knowledge and bliss. He is the primeval Lord
> Govinda and the cause of all causes." (Brahma-samhita 5.1)
42
43 In the Bhagavatam also there is a list of many incarnations
> of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Krsna is
> described as the original Personality of Godhead, from whom
> many, many incarnations and Personalities of Godhead expand:
44
45 ete camsa-kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam indrari-
> vyakulam lokam mrdayanti yuge yuge
46
47 "All the lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted
> herewith are either plenary expansions or parts of the
> plenary expansions of the Supreme Godhead, but Krsna is the
> Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself." (Bhag. 1.3.28)
48
49 Therefore, Krsna is the original Supreme Personality of
> Godhead, the Absolute Truth, the source of both the
> Supersoul and the impersonal Brahman.
50
51 In the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
> Arjuna's lamentation for his kinsmen is certainly
> unbecoming, and therefore. Krsna expressed His surprise
> with the word kutah, "wherefrom." Such impurities
> were never expected from a person belonging to
> the civilized class of men known as Aryans. The word Aryan
> is applicable to persons who know the value of life and
> have a civilization based on spiritual realization. Persons
> who are led by the material conception of life do not know
> that the aim of life is realization of the Absolute Truth,
> Visnu, or Bhagavan, and they are captivated by the external
> features of the material world, and therefore they do not
> know what liberation is. Persons who have no knowledge of
> liberation from material bondage are called non-Aryans.
> Although Arjuna was a ksatriya, he was deviating from his
> prescribed duties by declining to fight. This act of
> cowardice is described as befitting the non-Aryans. Such
> deviation from duty does not help one in the progress of
> spiritual life, nor does it even give one the opportunity
> to become famous in this world. Lord Krsna did not approve
> of the so-called compassion of Arjuna for his kinsmen.
52
53 Bg 2.3
54
55 TEXT 3
56
57 TRANSLATION
58
59 O son of Prtha, do not yield to this degrading impotence.
> It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of
> heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy.
60
61 PURPORT
62
63 Arjuna was addressed as the son of Prtha, who happened to
> be the sister of Krsna's father Vasudeva. Therefore Arjuna
> had a blood relationship with Krsna. If the son of a
> ksatriya declines to fight, he is a ksatriya in name only,
> and if the son of a brahmana acts impiously, he is a
> brahmana in name only. Such ksatriyas and brahmanas are
> unworthy sons of their fathers; therefore, Krsna did not
> want Arjuna to become an unworthy son of a ksatriya. Arjuna
> was the most intimate friend of Krsna, and Krsna was
> directly guiding him on the chariot; but in spite of all
> these credits, if Arjuna abandoned the battle he would be
> committing an infamous act. Therefore Krsna said that such
> an attitude in Arjuna did not fit his personality. Arjuna
> might argue that he would give up the battle on the grounds
> of his magnanimous attitude for the most respectable Bhisma
> and his relatives, but Krsna considered that sort of
> magnanimity mere weakness of heart. Such false magnanimity
> was not approved by any authority. Therefore, such
> magnanimity or so-called nonviolence should be given up by
> persons like Arjuna under the direct guidance of Krsna.
64
65 Bg 2.4
66
67 TEXT 4
68
69 TRANSLATION
70
71 Arjuna said: O killer of enemies, O killer of Madhu,
> how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like
> Bhisma and Drona, who are worthy of my worship?
72
73 PURPORT
74
75 Respectable superiors like Bhisma the grandfather and
> Dronacarya the teacher are always worshipable. Even if they
> attack, they should not be counterattacked. It is general
> etiquette that superiors are not to be offered even a
> verbal fight. Even if they are sometimes harsh in behavior,
> they should not be harshly treated. Then, how is it
> possible for Arjuna to counterattack them? Would Krsna ever
> attack His own grandfather, Ugrasena, or His teacher,
> Sandipani Muni? These were some of the arguments offered by
> Arjuna to Krsna.
76
77 Bg 2.5
78
79 TEXT 5
80
81 TRANSLATION
82
83 It would be better to live in this world by begging than to
> live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my
> teachers. Even though desiring worldly gain, they are
> superiors. If they are killed, everything we
> enjoy will be tainted with blood.
84
85 PURPORT
86
87 According to scriptural codes, a teacher who engages in an
> abominable action and has lost his sense of discrimination
> is fit to be abandoned. Bhisma and Drona were obliged to
> take the side of Duryodhana because of his financial
> assistance, although they should not have accepted such a
> position simply on financial considerations. Under the
> circumstances, they have lost the respectability of
> teachers. But Arjuna thinks that nevertheless they remain
> his superiors, and therefore to enjoy material profits
> after killing them would mean to enjoy spoils tainted with
> blood.
88
89 Bg 2.6
90
91 TEXT 6
92
93 TRANSLATION
94
95 Nor do we know which is better-conquering them or being
> conquered by them. If we killed the sons of Dhrtarastra,
> we should not care to live. Yet they are
> now standing before us on the battlefield.
96
97 PURPORT
98
99 Arjuna did not know whether he should fight and risk
> unnecessary violence, although fighting is the duty of the
> ksatriyas, or whether he should refrain and live by begging.
> If he did not conquer the enemy, begging would be his only
> means of subsistence. Nor was there certainty of victory,
> because either side might emerge victorious. Even if
> victory awaited them (and their cause was justified), still,
> if the sons of Dhrtarastra died in battle, it would be
> very difficult to live in their absence. Under the
> circumstances, that would be another kind of defeat for
> them. All these considerations by Arjuna definitely proved
> that not only was he a great devotee of the Lord but
> he was also highly enlightened and had complete
> control over his mind and senses. His desire to live by
> begging, although he was born in the royal household, is
> another sign of detachment. He was truly virtuous, as these
> qualities, combined with his faith in the words of
> instruction of Sri Krsna (his spiritual master), indicate.
> It is concluded that Arjuna was quite fit for liberation.
> Unless the senses are controlled, there is no chance of
> elevation to the platform of knowledge, and without
> knowledge and devotion there is no chance of liberation.
> Arjuna was competent in all these attributes, over and
> above his enormous attributes in his material relationships.
100
101 Bg 2.7
102
103 TEXT 7
104
105 TRANSLATION
106
107 Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure
> because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking
> You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I
> am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please
> instruct me.
108
109 PURPORT
110
111 By nature's own way the complete system of material
> activities is a source of perplexity for everyone. In every
> step there is perplexity, and therefore it behooves one to
> approach a bona fide spiritual master who can give one
> proper guidance for executing the purpose of life. All
> Vedic literatures advise us to approach a bona fide
> spiritual master to get free from the perplexities of life,
> which happen without our desire. They are like a forest
> fire that somehow blazes without being set by anyone.
> Similarly, the world situation is such' that perplexities
> of life automatically appear, without our wanting such
> confusion. No one wants fire, and yet it takes place, and
> we become perplexed. The Vedic wisdom therefore advises
> that in order to solve the perplexities of life and to
> understand the science of the solution, one must approach a
> spiritual master who is in the disciplic succession. A
> person with a bona fide spiritual master is supposed to
> know everything. One should not, therefore, remain in
> material perplexities but should approach a spiritual
> master. This is the purport of this verse.
112
113 Who is the man in material perplexities? It is he who does
> not understand the problems of life. In the Brhad-aranyaka
> Upanisad (3.8.10) the perplexed man is described as follows:
114
115 yo va etad aksaram gargy aviditvasmaþ lokat praiti sa
> krpanah.
116
117 "He is a miserly man who does not solve the problems of
> life as a human and who thus quits this world like the cats
> and dogs, without understanding the science of self-
> realization." This human form of life is a most valuable
> asset for the living entity who can utilize it for solving
> the problems of life; therefore, one who does not utilize
> this opportunity properly is a miser. On the other hand,
> there is the brahmana, or he who is intelligent enough to
> utilize this body to solve all the problems of life. Ya
> etad aksaram gargi viditvasmaþ lokat praiti sa brahmanah.
118
119 The krpanas, or miserly persons, waste their time in being
> overly affectionate for family, society, country, etc., in
> the material conception of life. One is often attached to
> family life, namely to wife, children and other members, on
> the basis of "skin disease." The krpana thinks that he is
> able to protect his family members from death; or the
> krpana thinks that his family or society can save him from
> the verge of death. Such family attachment can be found
> even in the lower animals, who take care of children also.
> Being intelligent, Arjuna could understand that his
> affection for family members and his wish to protect them
> from death were the causes of his perplexities. Although he
> could understand that his duty to fight was awaiting him,
> still, on account of miserly weakness, he could not
> discharge the duties. He is therefore asking Lord Krsna,
> the supreme spiritual master, to make a definite solution.
> He offers himself to Krsna as a disciple. He wants to stop
> friendly talks. Talks between the master and the disciple
> are serious, and now Arjuna wants to talk very seriously
> before the recognized spiritual master. Krsna is therefore
> the original spiritual master of the science of Bhagavad-
> gita, and Arjuna is the first disciple for understanding
> the Gita. How Arjuna understands the Bhagavad-gita is
> stated in the Gita itself. And yet foolish mundane scholars
> explain that one need not submit to Krsna as a person, but
> to "the unborn within Krsna." There is no difference
> between Krsna's within and without. And one who has no
> sense of this understanding is the greatest fool in trying
> to understand Bhagavad-gita.
120
121 Bg 2.8
122
123 TEXT 8
124
125 TRANSLATION
126
127 I can find no means to drive away this grief which is
> drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even
> if I win a prosperous, unrivaled kingdom on earth with
> sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.
128
129 PURPORT
130
131 Although Arjuna was putting forward so many arguments based
> on knowledge of the principles of religion and moral codes,
> it appears that he was unable to solve his real problem
> without the help of the spiritual master, Lord Sri Krsna.
> He could understand that his so-called knowledge was
> useless in driving away his problems, which were drying up
> his whole existence; and it was impossible for him to solve
> such perplexities without the help of a spiritual master
> like Lord Krsna. Academic knowledge, scholarship, high
> position, etc., are all useless in solving the problems of
> life; help can be given only by a spiritual master
> like Krsna. Therefore, the conclusion is that a spiritual
> master who is one hundred percent Krsna conscious is the
> bona fide spiritual master, for he can solve the problems
> of life. Lord Caitanya said that one who is master in the
> science of Krsna consciousness, regardless of his social
> position, is the real spiritual master.
132
133 kiba vipra, kiba nyasi, sudra kene naya yei krsna-
> tattva-vetta, sei 'guru' haya
134
135 "It does not matter whether a person is a vipra [learned
> scholar in Vedic wisdom] or is born in a lower family, or
> is in the renounced order of life-if he is master in the
> science of Krsna, he is the perfect and bona fide spiritual
> master." (Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 8.128) So without
> being a master in the science of Krsna consciousness, no
> one is a bona fide spiritual master. It is also said in
> Vedic literature:
136
137 sat-karma-nipuno vipro mantra-tantra-visaradah avaisnavo
> gurur na syad vaisnavah sva-paco guruh
138
139 "A scholarly brahmana, expert in all subjects of Vedic
> knowledge, is unfit to become a spiritual master without
> being a Vaisnava, or expert in the science of Krsna
> consciousness. But a person born in a family of a lower
> caste can become a spiritual master if he is a Vaisnava, or
> Krsna conscious." (Padma Purana)
140
141 The problems of material existence-birth, old age, disease
> and death-cannot be counteracted by accumulation of wealth
> and economic development. In many parts of the world there
> are states which are replete with all facilities of life,
> which are full of wealth and economically developed, yet
> the problems of material existence are still present. They
> are seeking peace in different ways, but they can achieve
> real happiness only if they consult Krsna, or the Bhagavad-
> gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam-which constitute the science of
> Krsna-through the bona fide representative of Krsna, the
> man in Krsna consciousness.
142
143 If economic development and material comforts could drive
> away one's lamentations for family, social, national or
> international inebrieties, then Arjuna would not have said
> that even an unrivaled kingdom on earth or supremacy like
> that of the demigods in the heavenly planets would be
> unable to drive away his lamentations. He sought, therefore,
> refuge in Krsna consciousness, and that is the right path
> for peace and harmony. Economic development or supremacy
> over the world can be finished at any moment by the
> cataclysms of material nature. Even elevation into a higher
> planetary situation, as men are now seeking on the
> moon planet, can also be finished at one stroke. The
> Bhagavad-gita confirms this: ksine punye martya-lokam
> visanti. "When the results of pious activities are finished,
> one falls down again from the peak of happiness to the
> lowest status of life." Many politicians of the world have
> fallen down in that way. Such downfalls only constitute
> more causes for lamentation.
144
145 Therefore, if we want to curb lamentation for good, then we
> have to take shelter of Krsna, as Arjuna is seeking to do.
> So Arjuna asked Krsna to solve his problem definitely, and
> that is the way of Krsna consciousness.
146
147 Bg 2.9
148
149 TEXT 9
150
151 TRANSLATION
152
153 Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of
> enemies, told Krsna, "Govinda, I shall not fight," and fell
> silent.
154
155 PURPORT
156
157 Dhrtarastra must have been very glad to understand that
> Arjuna was not going to fight and was instead leaving the
> battlefield for the begging profession. But Sanjaya
> disappointed him again in relating that Arjuna was
> competent to kill his enemies (parantapah). Although Arjuna
> was, for the time being, overwhelmed with false grief due
> to family affection, he surrendered unto Krsna, the supreme
> spiritual master, as a disciple. This indicated that he
> would soon be free from the false lamentation resulting
> from family affection and would be enlightened with perfect
> knowledge of self-realization, or Krsna consciousness, and
> would then surely fight. Thus Dhrtarastra's joy would be
> frustrated, since Arjuna would be enlightened by Krsna and
> would fight to the end.
158
159 Bg 2.10
160
161 TEXT 10
162
163 TRANSLATION
164
165 O descendant of Bharata, at that time Krsna, smiling, in
> the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to
> the grief-stricken Arjuna.
166
167 PURPORT
168
169 The talk was going on between intimate friends, namely the
> Hrsikesa and the Gudakesa. As friends, both of them were on
> the same level, but one of them voluntarily became a
> student of the other. Krsna was smiling because a friend
> had chosen to become a disciple. As Lord of all, He is
> always in the superior position as the master of everyone,
> and yet the Lord agrees to be a friend, a
> son, or a lover for a devotee who wants Him in such a
> role. But when He was accepted as the master, He at once
> assumed the role and talked with the disciple like the
> master-with gravity, as it is required. It appears that the
> talk between the master and the disciple was openly
> exchanged in the presence of both armies so that all were
> benefitted. So the talks of Bhagavad-gita are not for any
> particular person, society, or community, but they are for
> all, and friends or enemies are equally entitled to hear
> them.
170
171 Bg 2.11
172
173 TEXT 11
174
175 TRANSLATION
176
177 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.
178
179 PURPORT
180
181 The Lord at once took the position of the teacher and
> chastised the student, calling him, indirectly, a fool. The
> Lord said, "You are talking like a learned man, but you
> do not know that one who is learned-one who knows what is
> body and what is soul-does not lament for any stage of the
> body, neither in the living nor in the dead condition." As
> explained in later chapters, it will be clear
> that knowledge means to know matter and spirit and the
> controller of both. Arjuna argued that religious principles
> should be given more importance than politics or sociology,
> but he did not know that knowledge of matter, soul and the
> Supreme is even more important than religious formularies.
> And because he was lacking in that knowledge, he should
> not have posed himself as a very learned man. As he did not
> happen to be a very learned man, he was consequently
> lamenting for something which was unworthy of lamentation.
> The body is born and is destined to be vanquished today or
> tomorrow; therefore the body is not as important as the
> soul. One who knows this is actually learned, and for him
> there is no cause for lamentation, regardless of the
> condition of the material body.
182
183 Bg 2.12
184
185 TEXT 12
186
187 TRANSLATION
188
189 Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor
> all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to
> be.
190
191 PURPORT
192
193 In the Vedas, in the Katha Upanisad as well as in the
> Svetasvatara Upanisad, it is said that the Supreme
> Personality of Godhead is the maintainer of innumerable
> living entities, in terms of their different situations
> according to individual work and reaction of work. That
> Supreme Personality of Godhead is also, by His plenary
> portions, alive in the heart of every living entity. Only
> saintly persons who can see, within and without, the same
> Supreme Lord can actually attain to perfect and eternal
> peace.
194
195 nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam eko bahunam yo
> vidadhati kaman tam atma-stham ye 'nupasyanti dhiras tesam
> santih sasvati netaresam
196
197 The same Vedic truth given to Arjuna is given to all
> persons in the world who pose themselves as very learned
> but factually have but a poor fund of knowledge. The Lord
> says clearly that He Himself, Arjuna and all the kings who
> are assembled on the battlefield are eternally individual
> beings and that the Lord is eternally the maintainer of the
> individual living entities both in their conditioned and
> in their liberated situations. The Supreme
> Personality of Godhead is the supreme individual person,
> and Arjuna, the Lord's eternal associate, and all the kings
> assembled there are individual eternal persons. It is not
> that they did not exist as individuals in the past, and it
> is not that they will not remain eternal persons. Their
> individuality existed in the past, and their individuality
> will continue in the future without interruption. Therefore,
> there is no cause for lamentation for anyone.
198
199 The Mayavadi theory that after liberation the individual
> soul, separated by the covering of maya, or illusion, will
> merge into the impersonal Brahman and lose its individual
> existence is not supported herein by Lord Krsna, the
> supreme authority. Nor is the theory that we only think of
> individuality in the conditioned state supported herein.
> Krsna clearly says herein that in the future also the
> individuality of the Lord and others, as it is confirmed in
> the Upanisads, will continue eternally. This statement of
> Krsna's is authoritative because Krsna cannot be subject to
> illusion. If individuality were not a fact, then Krsna
> would not have stressed it so much-even for the future. The
> Mayavadi may argue that the individuality spoken of by
> Krsna is not spiritual, but material. Even accepting the
> argument that the individuality is material, then how can
> one distinguish Krsna's individuality? Krsna affirms His
> individuality in the past and confirms His individuality in
> the future also. He has confirmed His individuality in many
> ways, and impersonal Brahman has been declared to be
> subordinate to Him. Krsna has maintained spiritual
> individuality all along; if He is accepted as an ordinary
> conditioned soul in individual consciousness, then His
> Bhagavad-gita has no value as authoritative scripture. A
> common man with all the four defects of human frailty is
> unable to teach that which is worth hearing. The Gita is
> above such literature. No mundane book compares with the
> Bhagavad-gita. When one accepts Krsna as an ordinary man,
> the Gita loses all importance. The Mayavadi argues that the
> plurality mentioned in this verse is conventional and that
> it refers to the body. But previous to this verse such a
> bodily conception is already condemned. After condemning
> the bodily conception of the living entities, how was it
> possible for Krsna to place a conventional proposition on
> the body again? Therefore, individuality is maintained on
> spiritual grounds and is thus confirmed by great acaryas
> like Sri Ramanuja and others. It is clearly mentioned in
> many places in the Gita that this spiritual individuality
> is understood by those who are devotees of the Lord. Those
> who are envious of Krsna as the Supreme Personality of
> Godhead have no bona fide access to the great literature.
> The nondevotee's approach to the teachings of the Gita is
> something like that of a bee licking on a bottle of honey.
> One cannot have a taste of honey unless one opens the
> bottle. Similarly, the mysticism of the Bhagavad-gita can
> be understood only by devotees, and no one else can taste
> it, as it is stated in the Fourth Chapter of the book. Nor
> can the Gita be touched by persons who envy the very
> existence of the Lord. Therefore, the Mayavadi explanation
> of the Gita is a most misleading presentation of the whole
> truth. Lord Caitanya has forbidden us to read commentations
> made by the Mayavadis and warns that one who takes to such
> an understanding of the Mayavadi philosophy loses all power
> to understand the real mystery of the Gita. If
> individuality refers to the empirical universe, then there
> is no need of teaching by the Lord. The plurality of the
> individual soul and of the Lord is an eternal fact, and it
> is confirmed by the Vedas as above mentioned.
200
201 Bg 2.13
202
203 TEXT 13
204
205 TRANSLATION
206
207 As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body,
> from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes
> into another body at death. A sober person is
> not bewildered by such a change.
208
209 PURPORT
210
211 Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is
> changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a
> child, sometimes as a youth, and sometimes as an old man.
> Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any
> change. This individual soul finally changes the body at
> death and transmigrates to another body; and since it is
> sure to have another body in the next birth-either material
> or spiritual-there was no cause for lamentation by Arjuna
> on account of death, neither for Bhisma nor for Drona, for
> whom he was so much concerned. Rather, he should rejoice
> for their changing bodies from old to new ones, thereby
> rejuvenating their energy. Such changes of body account for
> varieties of enjoyment or suffering, according to one's
> work in life. So Bhisma and Drona, being noble souls, were
> surely going to have spiritual bodies in the next
> life, or at least life in heavenly bodies for superior
> enjoyment of material existence. So, in either case, there
> was no cause of lamentation.
212
213 Any man who has perfect knowledge of the constitution of
> the individual soul, the Supersoul, and nature-both
> material and spiritual-is called a dhira, or a most sober
> man. Such a man is never deluded by the change of bodies
> .
214
215 The Mayavadi theory of oneness of the spirit soul cannot be
> entertained, on the ground that the spirit soul cannot be
> cut into pieces as a fragmental portion. Such cutting into
> different individual souls would make the Supreme cleavable
> or changeable, against the principle of the Supreme Soul's
> being unchangeable. As confirmed in the Gita, the
> fragmental portions of the Supreme exist eternally (
> sanatana) and are called ksara; that is, they have a
> tendency to fall down into material nature. These
> fragmental portions are eternally so, and even after
> liberation the individual soul remains the same-fragmental.
> But once liberated, he lives an eternal life in bliss and
> knowledge with the Personality of Godhead. The theory of
> reflection can be applied to the Supersoul, who is present
> in each and every individual body and is known as the
> Paramatma. He is different from the individual living
> entity. When the sky is reflected in water, the reflections
> represent both the sun and the moon and the stars also. The
> stars can be compared to the living entities and the sun or
> the moon to the Supreme Lord. The individual fragmental
> spirit soul is represented by Arjuna, and the Supreme Soul
> is the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. They are not on
> the same level, as it will be apparent in the beginning of
> the Fourth Chapter. If Arjuna is on the same level with
> Krsna, and Krsna is not superior to Arjuna, then their
> relationship of instructor and instructed becomes
> meaningless. If both of them are deluded by the illusory
> energy (maya), then there is no need of one being the
> instructor and the other the instructed. Such instruction
> would be useless because, in the clutches of maya, no one
> can be an authoritative instructor. Under the circumstances,
> it is admitted that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Lord,
> superior in position to the living entity, Arjuna, who is a
> forgetful soul deluded by maya.
216
217 Bg 2.14
218
219 TEXT 14
220
221 TRANSLATION
222
223 O son of Kunti, 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.
224
225 PURPORT
226
227 In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to
> tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of
> happiness and distress. According to Vedic injunction, one
> has to take his bath early in the morning even during the
> month of Magha (January-February). It is very cold at that
> time, but in spite of that a man who abides by the
> religious principles does not hesitate to take his bath.
> Similarly, a woman does not hesitate to cook in the kitchen
> in the months of May and June, the hottest part of the
> summer season. One has to execute his duty in spite of
> climatic inconveniences. Similarly, to fight is the
> religious principle of the ksatriyas, and although one has
> to fight with some friend or relative, one should not
> deviate from his prescribed duty. One has to follow the
> prescribed rules and regulations of religious principles in
> order to rise up to the platform of knowledge, because by
> knowledge and devotion only can one liberate himself from
> the clutches of maya (illusion).
228
229 The two different names of address given to Arjuna are also
> significant. To address him as Kaunteya signifies his great
> blood relations from his mother's side; and to address him
> as Bharata signifies his greatness from his father's side.
> From both sides he is supposed to have a great heritage. A
> great heritage brings responsibility in the matter of
> proper discharge of duties; therefore, he cannot avoid
> fighting.
230
231 Bg 2.15
232
233 TEXT 15
234
235 TRANSLATION
236
237 O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed
> by happiness and distress and is steady in both is
> certainly eligible for liberation.
238
239 PURPORT
240
241 Anyone who is steady in his determination for the advanced
> stage of spiritual realization and can equally tolerate the
> onslaughts of distress and happiness is certainly a person
> eligible for liberation. In the varnasrama institution, the
> fourth stage of life, namely the renounced order (sannyasa),
> is a painstaking situation. But one who is serious about
> making his life perfect surely adopts the sannyasa order of
> life in spite of all difficulties. The difficulties usually
> arise from having to sever family relationships, to give up
> the connection of wife and children. But if anyone is able
> to tolerate such difficulties, surely his path to spiritual
> realization is complete. Similarly, in Arjuna's discharge
> of duties as a ksatriya, he is advised to persevere, even
> if it is difficult to fight with his family members or
> similarly beloved persons. Lord Caitanya took sannyasa at
> the age of twenty-four, and His dependents, young wife as
> well as old mother, had no one else to look after them. Yet
> for a higher cause He took sannyasa and was steady in the
> discharge of higher duties. That is the way of achieving
> liberation from material bondage.
242
243 Bg 2.16
244
245 TEXT 16
246
247 TRANSLATION
248
249 Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the
> nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and
> of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This
> they have concluded by studying the nature of both.
250
251 PURPORT
252
253 There is no endurance of the changing body. That the body
> is changing every moment by the actions and reactions of
> the different cells is admitted by modern medical science;
> and thus growth and old age are taking place in the body.
> But the spirit soul exists permanently, remaining the same
> despite all changes of the body and the mind. That is the
> difference between matter and spirit. By nature, the body
> is ever changing, and the soul is eternal. This conclusion
> is established by all classes of seers of the truth, both
> impersonalist and personalist. In the Visnu Purana (2.12.38)
> it is stated that Visnu and His abodes all have self-
> illuminated spiritual existence (jyotimsi visnur bhuvanani
> visnuh). The words existent and nonexistent refer only to
> spirit and matter. That is the version of all seers of
> truth.
254
255 This is the beginning of the instruction by the Lord to the
> living entities who are bewildered by the influence of
> ignorance. Removal of ignorance involves the
> reestablishment of the eternal relationship between the
> worshiper and the worshipable and the consequent
> understanding of the difference between the part-and-parcel
> living entities and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One
> can understand the nature of the Supreme by thorough study
> of oneself, the difference between oneself and the Supreme
> being understood as the relationship between the part and
> the whole. In the Vedanta-sutras, as well as in the Srimad-
> Bhagavatam, the Supreme has been accepted as the origin of
> all emanations. Such emanations are experienced by superior
> and inferior natural sequences. The living entities belong
> to the superior nature, as it will be revealed in the
> Seventh Chapter. Although there is no difference between
> the energy and the energetic, the energetic is accepted as
> the Supreme, and energy or nature is accepted as the
> subordinate. The living entities, therefore, are always
> subordinate to the Supreme Lord, as in the case of the
> master and the servant, or the teacher and the taught. Such
> clear knowledge is impossible to understand under the spell
> of ignorance, and to drive away such ignorance the Lord
> teaches the Bhagavad-gita for the enlightenment of all
> living entities for all time.
256
257 Bg 2.17
258
259 TEXT 17
260
261 TRANSLATION
262
263 That which pervades the entire body you should know to
> be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that
> imperishable soul.
264
265 PURPORT
266
267 This verse more clearly explains the real nature of the
> soul, which is spread all over the body. Anyone can
> understand what is spread all over the body: it is
> consciousness. Everyone is conscious of the pains and
> pleasures of the body in part or as a whole. This spreading
> of consciousness is limited within one's own body. The
> pains and pleasures of one body are unknown to another.
> Therefore, each and every body is the embodiment of an
> individual soul, and the symptom of the soul's presence is
> perceived as individual consciousness. This soul is
> described as one ten-thousandth part of the upper portion
> of the hair point in size. The Svetasvatara Upanisad (5.9)
> confirms this:
268
269 balagra-sata-bhagasya satadha kalpitasya ca bhago jivah
> vijneyah sa canantyaya kalpate
270
271 "When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred
> parts and again each of such parts is further divided into
> one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the
> dimension of the spirit soul." Similarly
> the same version is stated:
272
273 kesagra-sata-bhagasya satamsah sadrsatmakah jivah suksma-
> svarupo 'yam sankhyatito hi cit-kanah
274
275 "There are innumerable particles of spiritual atoms, which
> are measured as one ten-thousandth of the upper portion of
> the hair."
276
277 Therefore, the individual particle of spirit soul is a
> spiritual atom smaller than the material atoms, and such
> atoms are innumerable. This very small spiritual spark is
> the basic principle of the material body, and the influence
> of such a spiritual spark is spread all over the body as
> the influence of the active principle of some medicine
> spreads throughout the body. This current of the spirit
> soul is felt all over the body as consciousness, and that
> is the proof of the presence of the soul. Any layman can
> understand that the material body minus consciousness is a
> dead body, and this consciousness cannot be revived in the
> body by any means of material administration. Therefore,
> consciousness is not due to any amount of material
> combination, but to the spirit soul. In the Mundaka
> Upanisad (3.1.9) the measurement of the atomic spirit soul
> is further explained:
278
279 eso 'nur atma cetasa veditavyo yasmin pranah pancadha
> samvivesa pranais cittam sarvam otam prajanam yasmin
> visuddhe vibhavaty esa atma
280
281 "The soul is atomic in size and can be perceived by perfect
> intelligence. This atomic soul is floating in the five
> kinds of air (prana, apana, vyana, samana and udana), 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."
282
283 The hatha-yoga system is meant for controlling the five
> kinds of air encircling the pure soul by different kinds of
> sitting postures-not for any material profit, but for
> liberation of the minute soul from the entanglement of the
> material atmosphere.
284
285 So the constitution of the atomic soul is admitted in all
> Vedic literatures, and it is also actually felt in the
> practical experience of any sane man. Only the insane man
> can think of this atomic soul as all-pervading visnu-tattva.
286
287 The influence of the atomic soul can be spread all over a
> particular body. According to the Mundaka Upanisad, this
> atomic soul is situated in the heart of every living entity,
> and because the measurement of the atomic soul is beyond
> the power of appreciation of the material scientists, some
> of them assert foolishly that there is no soul. The
> individual atomic soul is definitely there in the heart
> along with the Supersoul, and thus all the energies of
> bodily movement are emanating from this part of the body.
> The corpuscles which carry the oxygen from the lungs gather
> energy from the soul. When the soul passes away from this
> position, the activity of the blood, generating fusion,
> ceases. Medical science accepts the importance of the red
> corpuscles, but it cannot ascertain that the source of the
> energy is the soul. Medical science, however, does admit
> that the heart is the seat of all energies of the body.
288
289 Such atomic particles of the spirit whole are compared to
> the sunshine molecules. In the sunshine there are
> innumerable radiant molecules. Similarly, the fragmental
> parts of the Supreme Lord are atomic sparks of the rays of
> the Supreme Lord, called by the name prabha, or superior
> energy. So whether one follows Vedic knowledge or
> modern science, one cannot deny the existence of the
> spirit soul in the body, and the science of the soul is
> explicitly described in the Bhagavad-gita by the
> Personality of Godhead Himself.
290
291 Bg 2.18
292
293 TEXT 18
294
295 TRANSLATION
296
297 The material body of the indestructible, immeasurable
> and eternal living entity is sure to come to an
> end; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata.
298
299 PURPORT
300
301 The material body is perishable by nature. It may perish
> immediately, or it may do so after a hundred years. It is a
> question of time only. There is no chance of maintaining it
> indefinitely. But the spirit soul is so minute that it
> cannot even be seen by an enemy, to say nothing of being
> killed. As mentioned in the previous verse, it is so small
> that no one can have any idea how to measure its dimension.
> So from both viewpoints there is no cause of lamentation,
> because the living entity as he is
> cannot be killed nor can the material body be
> saved for any length of time or permanently protected. The
> minute particle of the whole spirit acquires this material
> body according to his work, and therefore observance of
> religious principles should be utilized. In the Vedanta-
> sutras the living entity is qualified as light because he
> is part and parcel of the supreme light. As sunlight
> maintains the entire universe, so the light of the soul
> maintains this material body. As soon as the spirit soul is
> out of this material body, the body begins to decompose;
> therefore it is the spirit soul which maintains this body.
> The body itself is unimportant. Arjuna was advised to fight
> and not sacrifice the cause of religion for material,
> bodily considerations.
302
303 Bg 2.19
304
305 TEXT 19
306
307 TRANSLATION
308
309 Neither he who thinks the living entity the slayer
> nor he who thinks it slain is in
> knowledge, for the self slays not nor is slain.
310
311 PURPORT
312
313 When an embodied living entity is hurt by fatal weapons, it
> is to be known that the living entity within the body is
> not killed. The spirit soul is so small that it is
> impossible to kill him by any material weapon, as will be
> evident from subsequent verses. Nor is the living
> entity killable, because of his spiritual constitution.
> What is killed, or is supposed to be killed, is the body
> only. This, however, does not at all encourage killing of
> the body. The Vedic injunction is ma himsyat sarva
> bhutani: never commit violence to anyone. Nor does
> understanding that the living entity is not killed
> encourage animal slaughter. Killing the body of anyone
> without authority is abominable and is punishable by the
> law of the state as well as by the law of the Lord. Arjuna,
> however, is being engaged in killing for the principle of
> religion, and not whimsically.
314
315 Bg 2.20
316
317 TEXT 20
318
319 TRANSLATION
320
321 For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time.
> He has not come into being, does not come into being,
> and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-
> existing and primeval. He is not slain when the
> body is slain.
322
323 PURPORT
324
325 Qualitatively, the small atomic fragmental part of the
> Supreme Spirit is one with the Supreme. He undergoes no
> changes like the body. Sometimes the soul is called the
> steady, or kuta-stha. The body is subject to six kinds
> of transformations. It takes its birth from the womb of the
> mother's body, remains for some time, grows, produces some
> effects, gradually dwindles, and at last vanishes into
> oblivion. The soul, however, does not go through such
> changes. The soul is not born, but, because he takes on a
> material body, the body takes its birth. The soul does not
> take birth there, and the soul does not die. Anything which
> has birth also has death. And because the soul has no birth,
> he therefore has no past, present or future. He is eternal,
> ever-existing, and primeval-that is, there is no trace in
> history of his coming into being. Under the impression of
> the body, we seek the history of birth, etc., of the soul.
> The soul does not at any time become old, as the body does.
> The so-called old man, therefore, feels himself to be in
> the same spirit as in his childhood or youth. The changes
> of the body do not affect the soul. The soul does not
> deteriorate like a tree, nor anything material. The soul
> has no by-product either. The by-products of the body,
> namely children, are also different individual souls; and,
> owing to the body, they appear as children of a particular
> man. The body develops because of the soul's presence, but
> the soul has neither offshoots nor change. Therefore, the
> soul is free from the six changes of the body.
326
327 In the Katha Upanisad (1.2.18) we also find a similar
> passage, which reads:
328
329 na jayate mriyate va vipascin nayam kutascin na babhuva
> kascit ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane
> sarire
330
331 The meaning and purport of this verse is the same as in the
> Bhagavad-gita, but here in this verse there is one special
> word, vipascit, which means learned or with knowledge.
332
333 The soul is full of knowledge, or full always with
> consciousness. Therefore, consciousness is the symptom of
> the soul. Even if one does not find the soul within the
> heart, where he is situated, one can still understand the
> presence of the soul simply by the presence of
> consciousness. Sometimes we do not find the sun in the sky
> owing to clouds, or for some other reason, but the light of
> the sun is always there, and we are convinced that it is
> therefore daytime. As soon as there is a little light in
> the sky early in the morning, we can understand that the
> sun is in the sky. Similarly, since there is some
> consciousness in all bodies-whether man or animal-we can
> understand the presence of the soul. This consciousness of
> the soul is, however, different from the consciousness of
> the Supreme because the supreme consciousness is all-
> knowledge-past, present and future. The consciousness of
> the individual soul is prone to be forgetful. When he is
> forgetful of his real nature, he obtains education and
> enlightenment from the superior lessons of Krsna. But Krsna
> is not like the forgetful soul. If so, Krsna's teachings of
> Bhagavad-gita would be useless.
334
335 There are two kinds of souls-namely the minute particle
> soul (anu-atma) and the Supersoul (vibhu-atma). This is
> also confirmed in the Katha Upanisad (1.2.20) in this way:
336
337 anor aniyan mahato mahiyan atmasya jantor nihito guhayam
> tam akratuh pasyati vita-soko dhatuh prasadan mahimanam
> atmanah
338
339 "Both the Supersoul [Paramatma] and the atomic soul [
> jivatma] 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." Krsna 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
> Krsna, or by His bona fide representative (the spiritual
> master).
340
341 Bg 2.21
342
343 TEXT 21
344
345 TRANSLATION
346
347 O Partha, how can a person who knows that the soul is
> indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone
> or cause anyone to kill?
348
349 PURPORT
350
351 Everything has its proper utility, and a man who is
> situated in complete knowledge knows how and where to apply
> a thing for its proper utility. Similarly, violence also
> has its utility, and how to apply violence rests with the
> person in knowledge. Although the justice of the peace
> awards capital punishment to a person condemned for murder,
> the justice of the peace cannot be blamed, because he
> orders violence to another person according to the codes of
> justice. In Manu-samhita, the lawbook for mankind, it is
> supported that a murderer should be condemned to death so
> that in his next life he will not have to suffer for the
> great sin he has committed. Therefore, the king's
> punishment of hanging a murderer is actually beneficial.
> Similarly, when Krsna orders fighting, it must be concluded
> that violence is for supreme justice, and thus
> Arjuna should follow the instruction, knowing well that
> such violence, committed in the act of fighting for Krsna,
> is not violence at all because, at any rate, the man, or
> rather the soul, cannot be killed; so for the
> administration of justice, so-called violence is permitted.
> A surgical operation is not meant to kill the patient, but
> to cure him. Therefore the fighting to be executed by
> Arjuna at the instruction of Krsna is with full knowledge,
> so there is no possibility of sinful reaction.
352
353 Bg 2.22
354
355 TEXT 22
356
357 TRANSLATION
358
359 As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones,
> the soul similarly accepts new material bodies,
> giving up the old and useless ones.
360
361 PURPORT
362
363 Change of body by the atomic individual soul is an accepted
> fact. Even the modern scientists who do not believe
> in the existence of the soul, but at the same time cannot
> explain the source of energy from the heart, have to accept
> continuous changes of body which appear from childhood to
> boyhood and from boyhood to youth and again from youth to
> old age. From old age, the change is transferred to another
> body. This has already been explained in a previous verse
> (2.13).
364
365 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
> Mundaka Upanisad, as well as the Svetasvatara Upanisad,
> 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 (Krsna) 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.
> Krsna 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
> jiva 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 Krsna for instruction-the
> subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all
> lamentations. Both the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.2) and
> Svetasvatara Upanisad (4.7) confirm this:
366
367 samane vrkse puruso nimagno 'nisaya socati muhyamanah
> justam yada pasyaty anyam isam asya mahimanam iti vita-sokah
368
369 "Although the two birds are in the same tree, the eating
> bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the
> enjoyer of the fruits of the tree. But if in some way or
> other he turns his face to his friend who is the Lord and
> knows His glories-at once the suffering bird becomes free
> from all anxieties." Arjuna has now turned his face towards
> his eternal friend, Krsna, and is understanding the
> Bhagavad-gita from Him. And thus, hearing from Krsna, he
> can understand the supreme glories of the Lord and be free
> from lamentation.
370
371 Arjuna is advised herewith by the Lord not to lament for
> the bodily change of his old grandfather and his teacher.
> He should rather be happy to kill their bodies in the
> righteous fight so that they may be cleansed at once of all
> reactions from various bodily activities. One who lays down
> his life on the sacrificial altar, or in the proper
> battlefield, is at once cleansed of bodily reactions and
> promoted to a higher status of life. So there was no cause
> for Arjuna's lamentation.
372
373 Bg 2.23
374
375 TEXT 23
376
377 TRANSLATION
378
379 The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor
> burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor
> withered by the wind.
380
381 PURPORT
382
383 All kinds of weapons-swords, flame weapons, rain weapons,
> tornado weapons, etc.-are unable to kill the spirit
> soul. It appears that there were many kinds of weapons made
> of earth, water, air, ether, etc., in addition to the
> modern weapons of fire. Even the nuclear weapons of the
> modern age are classified as fire weapons, but formerly
> there were other weapons made of all different types of
> material elements. Firearms were counteracted by water
> weapons, which are now unknown to modern science. Nor do
> modern scientists have knowledge of tornado weapons.
> Nonetheless, the soul can never be cut into pieces, nor
> annihilated by any number of weapons, regardless of
> scientific devices.
384
385 The Mayavadi cannot explain
> how the individual soul came into existence simply by
> ignorance and consequently became covered by illusory
> energy.
>
386 Nor was it ever possible to cut the individual souls from
387 the original Supreme Soul; rather, the individual souls are
> eternally separated parts of the Supreme Soul. Because they
> are atomic individual souls eternally (sanatana), they are
> prone to be covered by the illusory energy, and thus they
> become separated from the association of the Supreme Lord,
> just as the sparks of a fire, although one in quality with
> the fire, are prone to be extinguished when out of the fire.
> In the Varaha Purana, the living entities are described as
> separated parts and parcels of the Supreme. They are
> eternally so, according to the Bhagavad-gita also. So, even
> after being liberated from illusion, the living entity
> remains a separate identity, as is evident from the
> teachings of the Lord to Arjuna. Arjuna became liberated by
> the knowledge received from Krsna, but he never became one
> with Krsna.
>
388 Bg 2.24
389
390 TEXT 24
391
392 TRANSLATION
393
394 This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can
395 be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present
> everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.
>
396 PURPORT
397
398 All these qualifications of the atomic soul definitely
399 prove that the individual soul is eternally the atomic
> particle of the spirit whole, and he remains the same atom
> eternally, without change. The theory of monism is very
> difficult to apply in this case, because the individual
> soul is never expected to become one homogeneously. After
> liberation from material contamination, the atomic soul may
> prefer to remain as a spiritual spark in the effulgent rays
> of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the intelligent
> souls enter into the spiritual planets to associate with
> the Personality of Godhead.
>
400 The word sarva-gata ("all-pervading") is significant
401 because there is no doubt that living entities are all over
> God's creation. They live on the land, in the water, in the
> air, within the earth and even within fire. The belief that
> they are sterilized in fire is not acceptable, because it
> is clearly stated here that the soul cannot be burned by
> fire. Therefore, there is no doubt that there are living
> entities also in the sun planet with suitable bodies to
> live there. If the sun globe is uninhabited, then the word
> sarva-gata-"living everywhere"-becomes meaningless.
>
402 Bg 2.25
403
404 TEXT 25
405
406 TRANSLATION
407
408 It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable
409 and immutable. Knowing this, you should not
> grieve for the body.
>
410 PURPORT
411
412 As described previously, the magnitude of the soul is so
413 small for our material calculation that he cannot be seen
> even by the most powerful microscope; therefore, he is
> invisible. As far as the soul's existence is concerned, no
> one can establish his existence experimentally beyond the
> proof of sruti, or Vedic wisdom. We have to accept this
> truth, because there is no other source of understanding
> the existence of the soul, although it is a fact by
> perception. There are many things we have to accept solely
> on grounds of superior authority. No one can deny the
> existence of his father, based upon the authority of his
> mother. There is no source of understanding the
> identity of the father except by the authority of the
> mother. Similarly, there is no source of
> understanding the soul except by studying the Vedas. In
> other words, the soul is inconceivable by human
> experimental knowledge. The soul is consciousness and
> conscious-that also is the statement of the Vedas, and we
> have to accept that. Unlike the bodily changes, there is no
> change in the soul. As eternally unchangeable, the soul
> remains atomic in comparison to the infinite Supreme Soul.
> The Supreme Soul is infinite, and the atomic soul is
> infinitesimal. Therefore, the infinitesimal soul, being
> unchangeable, can never become equal to the infinite soul,
> or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This concept is
> repeated in the Vedas in different ways just to confirm the
> stability of the conception of the soul. Repetition of
> something is necessary in order that we understand the
> matter thoroughly, without error.
>
414 Bg 2.26
415
416 TEXT 26
417
418 TRANSLATION
419
420 If, however, you think that the soul [or the symptoms of
421 life] is always born and dies forever, you
> still have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed.
>
422 PURPORT
423
424 There is always a class of philosophers, almost akin to the
425 Buddhists, who do not believe in the separate existence of
> the soul beyond the body. When Lord Krsna spoke the
> Bhagavad-gita, it appears that such philosophers existed,
> and they were known as the lokayatikas and vaibhasikas.
> Such philosophers maintain that life symptoms take
> place at a certain mature condition of material
> combination. The modern material scientist and materialist
> philosophers also think similarly. According to them, the
> body is a combination of physical elements, and at a
> certain stage the life symptoms develop by interaction of
> the physical and chemical elements. The science of
> anthropology is based on this philosophy. Currently, many
> pseudo religions-now becoming fashionable in America-are
> also adhering to this philosophy, as well as to the
> nihilistic nondevotional Buddhist sects.
>
426 Even if Arjuna did not believe in the existence of the soul-
427 as in the vaibhasika philosophy-there would still have been
> no cause for lamentation. No one laments the loss of a
> certain bulk of chemicals and stops discharging his
> prescribed duty. On the other hand, in modern science and
> scientific warfare, so many tons of chemicals are wasted
> for achieving victory over the enemy. According to the
> vaibhasika philosophy, the so-called soul or atma vanishes
> along with the deterioration of the body. So, in any case,
> whether Arjuna accepted the Vedic conclusion that there is
> an atomic soul or he did not believe in the
> existence of the soul, he had no reason to lament.
> According to this theory, since there are so many living
> entities generating out of matter every moment, and so many
> of them are being vanquished every moment, there is no need
> to grieve for such incidents. If
> there were no rebirth for the soul, Arjuna had no
> reason to be afraid of being affected by sinful reactions
> due to his killing his grandfather and teacher. But at the
> same time, Krsna sarcastically addressed Arjuna as maha-
> bahu, mighty-armed, because He, at least, did not accept
> the theory of the vaibhasikas, which leaves aside the Vedic
> wisdom. As a ksatriya, Arjuna belonged to the Vedic culture,
> and it behooved him to continue to follow its principles.
>
428 Bg 2.27
429
430 TEXT 27
431
432 TRANSLATION
433
434 One who has taken his birth is sure to die,
435 and after death one is sure to take birth again.
> Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you
> should not lament.
>
436 PURPORT
437
438 One has to take birth according to one's activities of life.
439 And after finishing one term of activities, one has to
> die to take birth for the next. In this way one is going
> through one cycle of birth and death
> after another without liberation. This cycle of birth
> and death does not, however, support unnecessary murder,
> slaughter and war. But at the same time, violence and war
> are inevitable factors in human society for keeping law and
> order.
>
440 The Battle of Kuruksetra, being the will of the Supreme,
441 was an inevitable event, and to fight for the right cause
> is the duty of a ksatriya. Why should he be afraid of or
> aggrieved at the death of his relatives since he was
> discharging his proper duty? He did not deserve to break
> the law, thereby becoming subjected to the reactions of
> sinful acts, of which he was so afraid. By avoiding the
> discharge of his proper duty, he would not be able to stop
> the death of his relatives, and he would be degraded due to
> his selection of the wrong path of action.
>
442 Bg 2.28
443
444 TEXT 28
445
446 TRANSLATION
447
448 All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning,
449 manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when
> annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation?
>
450 PURPORT
451
452 Accepting that there are two classes of philosophers, one
453 believing in the existence of the soul and the other not
> believing in the existence of the soul, there is no cause
> for lamentation in either case. Nonbelievers in the
> existence of the soul are called atheists by followers of
> Vedic wisdom. Yet even if, for argument's sake, we accept
> this atheistic theory, there is still no cause for
> lamentation. Apart from the separate existence of the soul,
> the material elements remain unmanifested before creation.
> From this subtle state of nonmanifestation comes
> manifestation, just as from ether, air is generated; from
> air, fire is generated; from fire, water is generated; and
> from water, earth becomes manifested. From the earth, many
> varieties of manifestations take place. Take, for example,
> a big skyscraper manifested from the earth. When it is
> dismantled, the manifestation becomes again unmanifested
> and remains as atoms in the ultimate stage. The law of
> conservation of energy remains, but in course of time
> things are manifested and unmanifested-that is the
> difference. Then what cause is there for lamentation either
> in the stage of manifestation or in unmanifestation?
> Somehow or other, even in the unmanifested stage, things
> are not lost. Both at the beginning and at the end, all
> elements remain unmanifested, and only in the middle are
> they manifested, and this does not make any real material
> difference.
>
454 And if we accept the Vedic conclusion as stated in the
455 Bhagavad-gita that these material
> bodies are perishable in due course of time (antavanta
> ime dehah) but that the soul is eternal (nityasyoktah
> saririnah), then we must remember always that the body is
> like a dress; therefore why lament the changing of a dress?
> The material body has no factual existence in relation to
> the eternal soul. It is something like a dream. In a dream
> we may think of flying in the sky, or sitting on a chariot
> as a king, but when we wake up we can see that we are
> neither in the sky nor seated on the chariot. The Vedic
> wisdom encourages self-realization on the basis of the
> nonexistence of the material body. Therefore, in either
> case, whether one believes in the existence of the soul or
> one does not believe in the existence of the soul, there is
> no cause for lamentation for loss of the body.
>
456 Bg 2.29
457
458 TEXT 29
459
460 TRANSLATION
461
462 Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as
463 amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others,
> even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.
>
464 PURPORT
465
466 Since Gitopanisad is largely based on the principles of the
467 Upanisads, it is not surprising to also find this passage
> in the Katha Upanisad (1.2.7):
>
468 sravanayapi bahubhir yo na labhyah srnvanto 'pi bahavo yam
469 na vidyuh ascaryo vakta kusalo 'sya labdha ascaryo 'sya
> jnata kusalanusistah
>
470 The fact that the atomic soul is within
471 the body of a gigantic animal, in the
> body of a gigantic banyan tree, and also
> in the microbic germs, millions and billions of which
> occupy only an inch of space, is certainly very amazing.
> Men with a poor fund of knowledge and men who are not
> austere cannot understand the wonders of the individual
> atomic spark of spirit, even though it is explained by the
> greatest authority of knowledge, who imparted lessons even
> to Brahma, the first living being in the universe. Owing to
> a gross material conception of things, most men in this age
> cannot imagine how such a small particle can become both so
> great and so small. So men look at the soul proper as
> wonderful either by constitution or by description.
> Illusioned by the material energy, people are so engrossed
> in subject matters for sense gratification that they have
> very little time to understand the question of self-
> understanding, even though it is a fact that without this
> self-understanding all activities result in ultimate defeat
> in the struggle for existence. Perhaps they have no idea
> that one must think of the soul, and thus make a solution
> to the material miseries.
>
472 Some people who are inclined to hear about the soul may
473 be attending lectures, in good association, but sometimes,
> owing to ignorance, they are misguided by
> acceptance of the Supersoul and the atomic
> soul as one without distinction of magnitude. It
> is very difficult to find a man
> who perfectly understands
> the position of the Supersoul,
> the atomic
> soul, their respective functions and
> relationships and all other major and minor details.
> And it
> is still more difficult to find a man who
> has actually derived full benefit from knowledge
> of the soul
> , and
> who is able to describe
> the position of the
>
> soul in different aspects. But if, somehow
> or other, one is able to understand the
> subject matter of the soul, then one's
> life is successful.
>
474 The
475 easiest process for understanding the subject matter of
> self, however, is to accept the statements of the Bhagavad-
> gita spoken by the greatest authority, Lord Krsna, without
> being deviated by other theories. But it also requires a
> great deal of penance and sacrifice, either in this life or
> in the previous ones, before one is able to accept Krsna as
> the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna can, however, be
> known as such by the causeless mercy of the pure devotee
> and by no other way.
>
> Bg 2.30
476
477 TEXT 30
478
479 TRANSLATION
480
481 O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the body
482 can never be slain. Therefore you need not
483 grieve for any living being.
>
> PURPORT
484
485 The Lord now concludes the chapter of instruction on the
486 immutable spirit soul. In describing the immortal soul in
487 various ways, Lord Krsna establishes that the soul is
> immortal and the body is temporary. Therefore Arjuna as a
> ksatriya should not abandon his duty out of fear that his
> grandfather and teacher-Bhisma and Drona-will die in the
> battle. On the authority of Sri Krsna, one has to believe
> that there is a soul different from the material body, not
> that there is no such thing as soul, or that living
> symptoms develop at a certain stage of material maturity
> resulting from the interaction of chemicals. Though the
> soul is immortal, violence is not encouraged, but at the
> time of war it is not discouraged when there is actual need
> for it. That need must be justified in terms of the
> sanction of the Lord, and not capriciously.
>
> Bg 2.31
488
489 TEXT 31
490
491 TRANSLATION
492
493 Considering your specific duty as a ksatriya, you should
494 know that there is no better engagement for you than
495 fighting on religious principles; and so there is no need
> for hesitation.
>
> PURPORT
496
497 Out of the four orders of social administration, the second
498 order, for the matter of good administration, is called
499 ksatriya. Ksat means hurt. One who gives protection from
> harm is called ksatriya (trayate-to give protection). The
> ksatriyas are trained for killing in the forest. A ksatriya
> would go into the forest and challenge a tiger face to face
> and fight with the tiger with his sword. When the tiger was
> killed, it would be offered the royal order of cremation.
> This system has been followed even up to the present day
> by the ksatriya kings of Jaipur state. The ksatriyas are
> specially trained for challenging and killing because
> religious violence is sometimes a necessary factor.
> Therefore, ksatriyas are never meant for accepting directly
> the order of sannyasa, or renunciation. Nonviolence in
> politics may be a diplomacy, but it is never a factor or
> principle. In the religious law books it is stated:
>
> ahavesu mitho 'nyonyam jighamsanto mahi-ksitah
500 yuddhamanah param saktya svargam yanty aparan-mukhah
501
> yajnesu pasavo brahman hanyante satatam dvijaih
502 samskrtah kila mantrais ca te 'pi svargam
503 avapnuvan
>
> "In the battlefield, a king or ksatriya, while
504 fighting another king envious of him, is eligible
505 for achieving heavenly planets after death, as
> the brahmanas also attain the heavenly planets
> by sacrificing animals in the sacrificial
> fire." Therefore, killing on the battlefield
> on religious principles and killing
> animals in the sacrificial
> fire are not
> at all considered to be acts of
> violence, because everyone is benefited by the
> religious principles
> involved. The animal sacrificed gets a
> human life immediately without
> undergoing the gradual evolutionary process from
> one form to another, and
> the ksatriyas killed on the battlefield
> also attain the
> heavenly planets as
> do the brahmanas who attain them by offering
> sacrifice.
>
> There are two kinds of sva-dharmas, specific duties. As
506 long as one is not liberated, one has to perform the duties
507 of his particular body in accordance with religious
> principles in order to achieve liberation. When one is
> liberated, one's sva-dharma-specific duty-becomes spiritual
> and is not in the material bodily concept. In the bodily
> conception of life there are specific duties for the
> brahmanas and ksatriyas respectively, and such duties are
> unavoidable. Sva-dharma is ordained by the Lord, and this
> will be clarified in the Fourth Chapter. On the bodily
> plane sva-dharma is called varnasrama-dharma, or man's
> steppingstone for spiritual understanding. Human
> civilization begins from the stage of varnasrama-dharma, or
> specific duties in terms of the specific modes of nature of
> the body obtained. Discharging one's specific duty in any
> field of action in accordance with the orders of higher
> authorities serves to elevate one to a higher status of
> life.
>
> Bg 2.32
508
509 TEXT 32
510
511 TRANSLATION
512
513 O Partha, happy are the ksatriyas to whom such fighting
514 opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of
515 the heavenly planets.
>
> PURPORT
516
517 As supreme teacher of the world, Lord Krsna condemns the
518 attitude of Arjuna, who said, "I do not find any good in
519 this fighting. It will cause perpetual habitation in hell."
> Such statements by Arjuna were due to ignorance only. He
> wanted to become nonviolent in the discharge of his
> specific duty. For a ksatriya to be on the battlefield and
> to become nonviolent is the philosophy of fools. In the
> Parasara-smrti, or religious codes made by Parasara, the
> great sage and father of Vyasadeva, it is stated:
>
> ksatriyo hi praja raksan sastra-panih pradandayan nirjitya
520 para-sainyadi ksitim dharmena palayet
521
> "The ksatriya's duty is to protect the citizens from all
522 kinds of difficulties, and for that reason he has to apply
523 violence in suitable cases for law and order. Therefore he
> has to conquer the soldiers of inimical kings, and thus,
> with religious principles, he should rule over the world."
>
> Considering all aspects, Arjuna had no reason to refrain
524 from fighting. If he should conquer his enemies, he would
525 enjoy the kingdom; and if he should die in the battle, he
> would be elevated to the heavenly planets, whose doors were
> wide open to him. Fighting would be for his benefit in
> either case.
>
> Bg 2.33
526
527 TEXT 33
528
529 TRANSLATION
530
531 If, however, you do not perform your religious duty of
532 fighting, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting
533 your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.
>
> PURPORT
534
535 Arjuna was a famous fighter, and he attained fame by
536 fighting many great demigods, including even Lord Siva.
537 After fighting and defeating Lord Siva in the dress of a
> hunter, Arjuna pleased the lord and received as a reward a
> weapon called pasupata-astra. Everyone knew that he was a
> great warrior. Even Dronacarya 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 adopted
> father Indra, the heavenly king. But if he abandoned the
> battle, not only would he neglect his specific
> duty as a ksatriya, 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.
>
> Bg 2.34
538
539 TEXT 34
540
541 TRANSLATION
542
543 People will always speak of your infamy, and for a
544 respectable person, dishonor is worse than
545 death.
>
> PURPORT
546
547 Both as friend and philosopher to Arjuna, Lord Krsna now
548 gives His final judgment regarding Arjuna's refusal to
549 fight. The Lord says, "Arjuna, if you leave the battlefield
> before the battle even begins, people will call you a
> coward. And if you think
> that people may call you bad names but that you will save
> your life by fleeing the battlefield, then My advice is
> that you'd do better to die in the battle. For a
> respectable man like you, ill fame is worse than death. So,
> you should not flee for fear of your life; better to die in
> the battle. That will save you from the ill fame of
> misusing My friendship and from losing your prestige in
> society."
>
> So, the final judgment of the Lord was for Arjuna to die
550 in the battle and not withdraw.
551
> Bg 2.35
552
553 TEXT 35
554
555 TRANSLATION
556
557 The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and
558 fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of
559 fear only, and thus they will consider you insignificant
> .
>
> PURPORT
560
561 Lord Krsna continued to give His verdict to Arjuna: "Do not
562 think that the great generals like Duryodhana, Karna, and
563 other contemporaries will think that you have left the
> battlefield out of compassion for your brothers and
> grandfather. They will think that you have left out of fear
> for your life. And thus their high estimation of your
> personality will go to hell."
>
> Bg 2.36
564
565 TEXT 36
566
567 TRANSLATION
568
569 Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and
570 scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?
571
> PURPORT
572
573 Lord Krsna was astonished in the beginning at Arjuna's
574 uncalled-for plea for compassion, and He described his
575 compassion as befitting the non-Aryans. Now in so many
> words, He has proved His statements against Arjuna's so-
> called compassion.
>
> Bg 2.37
576
577 TEXT 37
578
579 TRANSLATION
580
581 O son of Kunti, either you will be killed on the
582 battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will
583 conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore, get up
> with determination and fight.
>
> PURPORT
584
585 Even though there was no certainty of victory for Arjuna's
586 side, he still had to fight; for, even being killed there,
587 he could be elevated into the heavenly planets.
>
> Bg 2.38
588
589 TEXT 38
590
591 TRANSLATION
592
593 Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering
594 happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat-and
595 by so doing you shall never incur sin.
>
> PURPORT
596
597 Lord Krsna now directly says that Arjuna should fight for
598 the sake of fighting because He desires the battle. There
599 is no consideration of happiness or distress, profit or
> gain, victory or defeat in the activities of Krsna
> consciousness. That everything should be performed for the
> sake of Krsna is transcendental consciousness; so there is
> no reaction to material activities. He who acts for his own
> sense gratification, either in goodness or in passion, is
> subject to the reaction, good or bad. But he who has
> completely surrendered himself in the activities of Krsna
> consciousness is no longer obliged to anyone, nor is he a
> debtor to anyone, as one is in the ordinary course of
> activities. It is said:
>
> devarsi-bhutapta-nrnam pitrnam na kinkaro nayam rni ca
600 rajan sarvatmana yah saranam saranyam gato mukundam
601 parihrtya kartam
>
> "Anyone who has completely surrendered unto Krsna, Mukunda,
602 giving up all other duties, is no longer a debtor, nor is
603 he obliged to anyone-not the demigods, nor the sages, nor
> the people in general, nor kinsmen, nor humanity, nor
> forefathers." (Bhag. 11.5.41) That is the indirect hint
> given by Krsna to Arjuna in this verse, and the matter will
> be more clearly explained in the following verses.
>
> Bg 2.39
604
605 TEXT 39
606
607 TRANSLATION
608
609 Thus far I have described this knowledge to you through
610 analytical study. Now listen as
611 I explain it in terms of working without fruitive
> results. O son of Prtha, when you act in such knowledge
> you can free yourself from the bondage of works.
>
> PURPORT
612
613 According to the Nirukti, or the Vedic dictionary, sankhya
614 means that which describes things in detail, and sankhya
615 refers to that philosophy which describes the real nature
> of the soul. And yoga involves controlling the senses.
> Arjuna's proposal not to fight was based on sense
> gratification. Forgetting his prime duty, he wanted to
> cease fighting, because he thought that by not killing his
> relatives and kinsmen he would be happier than by enjoying
> the kingdom after conquering his cousins and brothers, the
> sons of Dhrtarastra. In both ways, the basic principles
> were for sense gratification. Happiness derived from
> conquering them and happiness derived by seeing kinsmen
> alive are both on the basis of personal sense gratification,
> even at a sacrifice of wisdom and duty. Krsna,
> therefore, wanted to explain to Arjuna that by killing the
> body of his grandfather he would not be killing the soul
> proper, and He explained that all individual persons,
> including the Lord Himself, are eternal individuals; they
> were individuals in the past, they are individuals in the
> present, and they will continue to remain individuals in
> the future, because all of us are individual souls
> eternally. We simply change our bodily dress in
> different manners, but actually we keep our
> individuality even after liberation from the bondage of
> material dress. An analytical study of the soul and the
> body has been very graphically explained by Lord Krsna. And
> this descriptive knowledge of the soul and the body from
> different angles of vision has been described here as
> Sankhya, in terms of the Nirukti dictionary. This Sankhya
> has nothing to do with Sankhya philosophy of the
> atheist Kapila. Long before the imposter Kapila's Sankhya,
> the Sankhya philosophy was expounded in the Srimad-
> Bhagavatam by the true Lord Kapila, the incarnation of Lord
> Krsna, who explained it to His mother, Devahuti. It is
> clearly explained by Him that the purusa, or the Supreme
> Lord, is active and that He creates by looking over the
> prakrti. This is accepted in the Vedas and in the Gita. The
> description in the Vedas indicates that the Lord glanced
> over the prakrti, or nature, and impregnated it with atomic
> individual souls. All these individuals are working in the
> material world for sense gratification, and under the spell
> of material energy they are thinking of being enjoyers.
> This mentality is dragged to the last point of liberation
> when the living entity wants to become one with the Lord.
> This is the last snare of maya, or sense gratificatory
> illusion, and it is only after many, many births of such
> sense gratificatory activities that a great soul surrenders
> unto Vasudeva, Lord Krsna, thereby fulfilling the search
> after the ultimate truth.
>
> Arjuna has already accepted Krsna as his spiritual master
616 by surrendering himself unto Him: sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam
617 tvam prapannam. Consequently, Krsna will now tell him about
> the working process in buddhi-yoga, or karma-yoga, or in
> other words, the practice of devotional service only for
> the sense gratification of the Lord. This buddhi-yoga is
> clearly explained in Chapter Ten, verse ten, as being
> direct communion with the Lord, who is sitting as Paramatma
> in everyone's heart. But such communion does not take place
> without devotional service. One who is therefore situated
> in devotional or transcendental loving service to the Lord,
> or, in other words, in Krsna consciousness, attains to this
> stage of buddhi-yoga by the special grace of the Lord. The
> Lord says, therefore, that only to those who are always
> engaged in devotional service out of transcendental love
> does He award the pure knowledge of devotion in love. In
> that way the devotee can reach Him easily in the ever-
> blissful kingdom of God.
>
> Thus the buddhi-yoga mentioned in this verse is the
618 devotional service of the Lord, and the word Sankhya
619 mentioned herein has nothing to do with the atheistic
> sankhya-yoga enunciated by the imposter Kapila. One should
> not, therefore, misunderstand that the sankhya-yoga
> mentioned herein has any connection with the atheistic
> Sankhya. Nor did that philosophy have any influence during
> that time; nor would Lord Krsna care to mention such
> godless philosophical speculations. Real Sankhya philosophy
> is described by Lord Kapila in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, but
> even that Sankhya has nothing to do with the current topics.
> Here, Sankhya means analytical description of the body and
> the soul. Lord Krsna made an analytical description of the
> soul just to bring Arjuna to the point of buddhi-yoga, or
> bhakti-yoga. Therefore, Lord Krsna's Sankhya and Lord
> Kapila's Sankhya, as described in the Bhagavatam, are one
> and the same. They are all bhakti-yoga. Lord Krsna Said,
> therefore, that only the less intelligent class of men make
> a distinction between sankhya-yoga and bhakti-yoga (sankhya-
> yogau prthag balah pravadanti na panditah).
>
> Of course, atheistic sankhya-yoga has nothing to do with
620 bhakti-yoga, yet the unintelligent claim that the atheistic
621 sankhya-yoga is referred to in the Bhagavad-gita.
>
> One should therefore understand that buddhi-yoga means to
622 work in Krsna consciousness, in the full bliss and
623 knowledge of devotional service. One who works for the
> satisfaction of the Lord only, however difficult such work
> may be, is working under the principles of buddhi-yoga and
> finds himself always in transcendental bliss. By such
> transcendental engagement, one achieves all transcendental
> understanding automatically, by the grace of the Lord, and
> thus his liberation is complete in itself, without his
> making extraneous endeavors to acquire knowledge. There is
> much difference between work in Krsna consciousness and
> work for fruitive results, especially in the matter of
> sense gratification for achieving results in terms of
> family or material happiness. Buddhi-yoga is therefore the
> transcendental quality of the work that we perform.
>
> Bg 2.40
624
625 TEXT 40
626
627 TRANSLATION
628
629 In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a
630 little advancement on this path can protect one from the
631 most dangerous type of fear.
>
> PURPORT
632
633 Activity in Krsna consciousness, or acting for the benefit
634 of Krsna without expectation of sense gratification, is the
635 highest transcendental quality of work. Even a small
> beginning of such activity finds no impediment, nor can
> that small beginning be lost at any stage. Any work begun
> on the material plane has to be completed, otherwise the
> whole attempt becomes a failure. But any work begun in
> Krsna consciousness has a permanent effect, even though not
> finished. The performer of such work is therefore not at a
> loss even if his work in Krsna consciousness is incomplete.
> One percent done in Krsna consciousness bears permanent
> results, so that the next beginning is from the point of
> two percent, whereas in material activity without a
> hundred percent success there is no profit. Ajamila
> performed his duty in some percentage of Krsna
> consciousness, but the result he enjoyed at the end was a
> hundred percent, by the grace of the Lord. There is a nice
> verse in this connection in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.5.17):
>
> tyaktva sva-dharmam caranambujam harer bhajann apakvo
636 'tha patet tato yadi yatra kva vabhadram abhud amusya kim
637 ko vartha apto 'bhajatam sva-dharmatah
>
> "If someone gives up his occupational duties and works
638 in Krsna consciousness and then falls down on account of
639 not completing his work, what loss is there on his part?
> And what can one gain if one performs his material
> activities perfectly?" Or, as the Christians
> say, "What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world yet
> suffers the loss of his eternal soul?"
>
> Material activities and their results end with the body.
640 But work in Krsna consciousness carries a person again to
641 Krsna consciousness, even after the loss of the body. At
> least one is sure to have a chance in the next life of
> being born again as a human being, either in the family of
> a great cultured brahmana or in a rich aristocratic family
> that will give one a further chance for elevation. That is
> the unique quality of work done in Krsna consciousness.
>
> Bg 2.41
642
643 TEXT 41
644
645 TRANSLATION
646
647 Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and
648 their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the
649 intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.
>
> PURPORT
650
651 A strong faith that by Krsna consciousness one will
652 be elevated to the highest perfection of life is called
653 vyavasayatmika intelligence. The Caitanya-caritamrta (
> Madhya 22.62) states:
>
> 'sraddha'-sabde visvasa kahe sudrdha niscaya
654 krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya
655
656 Faith means unflinching trust in something sublime. When
657 one is engaged in the duties of Krsna consciousness, he
658 need not act in relationship to the material world with
> obligations to family traditions, humanity, or nationality.
> Fruitive activities are the engagements of one's reactions
> from past good or bad deeds. When one is awake in Krsna
> consciousness, he need no longer endeavor for good results
> in his activities. When one is situated in Krsna
> consciousness, all activities are on the absolute plane,
> for they are no longer subject to dualities like good and
> bad. The highest perfection of Krsna consciousness is
> renunciation of the material conception of life. This state
> is automatically achieved by progressive Krsna
> consciousness. The resolute purpose of a person in Krsna
> consciousness is based on knowledge. Vasudevah sarvam iti
> sa mahatma su-durlabhah: a person in Krsna
> consciousness is the rare good soul who knows perfectly
> that Vasudeva, or Krsna, is the root of all manifested
> causes. As by watering the root of a tree one
> automatically distributes water to the leaves and branches,
> so by acting in Krsna consciousness one can render the
> highest service to everyone-namely self, family, society,
> country, humanity, etc. If Krsna is satisfied by one's
> actions, then everyone will be satisfied.
>
> Service in Krsna consciousness is, however, best practiced
659 under the able guidance of a spiritual master who is a bona
660 fide representative of Krsna, who knows the nature of the
> student and who can guide him to act in Krsna consciousness.
> As such, to be well versed in Krsna consciousness one has
> to act firmly and obey the representative of Krsna, and one
> should accept the instruction of the bona fide spiritual
> master as one's mission in life. Srila Visvanatha
> Cakravarti Thakura instructs us, in his famous prayers for
> the spiritual master, as follows:
>
> yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gatih
661 kuto 'pi dhyayan stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyam vande
662 guroh sri-caranaravindam
>
> "By satisfaction of the spiritual master, the Supreme
663 Personality of Godhead becomes satisfied. And by not
664 satisfying the spiritual master, there is no chance of
> being promoted to the plane of Krsna consciousness. I
> should, therefore, meditate and pray for his mercy three
> times a day, and offer my respectful obeisances unto him,
> my spiritual master."
>
> The whole process, however, depends on perfect knowledge of
665 the soul beyond the conception of the body-not
666 theoretically but practically, when there is no longer a
> chance for sense gratification manifested in fruitive
> activities. One who is not firmly fixed in mind is diverted
> by various types of fruitive acts.
>
> Bg 2.42-43
667
668 TEXTS 42–43
669
670 TRANSLATION
671
672 Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the
673 flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various
674 fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets,
> resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous
> of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that
> there is nothing more than this.
>
> PURPORT
675
676 People in general are not very intelligent, and due to
677 their ignorance they are most attached to the fruitive
678 activities recommended in the karma-kanda portions of the
> Vedas. They do not want anything more than sense
> gratificatory proposals for enjoying life in heaven, where
> wine and women are available and material opulence is very
> common. In the Vedas many sacrifices are recommended for
> elevation to the heavenly planets, especially the
> jyotistoma sacrifices. In fact, it is stated that anyone
> desiring elevation to heavenly planets must perform these
> sacrifices, and men with a poor fund of knowledge think
> that this is the whole purpose of Vedic wisdom. It is very
> difficult for such inexperienced persons to be situated in
> the determined action of Krsna consciousness. As fools are
> attached to the flowers of poisonous trees without knowing
> the results of such attractions, unenlightened
> men are similarly attracted by such heavenly opulence and
> the sense enjoyment thereof.
>
> In the karma-kanda section of the Vedas it is said, apama
679 somam amrta abhuma and aksayyam ha vai caturmasya-yajinah
680 sukrtam bhavati. In other words, those who perform the four-
> month penances become eligible to drink the soma-rasa
> beverages to become immortal and happy forever. Even on
> this earth some are very eager to have soma-rasa to
> become strong and fit to enjoy sense gratifications. Such
> persons have no faith in liberation from material bondage,
> and they are very much attached to the pompous ceremonies
> of Vedic sacrifices. They are generally sensual, and they
> do not want anything other than the heavenly pleasures of
> life. It is understood that there are gardens called
> Nandana-kanana in which there is good opportunity for
> association with angelic, beautiful women and having a
> profuse supply of soma-rasa wine. Such bodily happiness
> is certainly sensual; therefore there are those who are
> purely attached to such material, temporary happiness, as
> lords of the material world.
>
> Bg 2.44
681
682 TEXT 44
683
684 TRANSLATION
685
686 In the minds of those who are too attached to sense
687 enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by
688 such things, the resolute determination for devotional
> service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.
>
> PURPORT
689
690 Samadhi means "fixed mind." The Vedic dictionary, the
691 Nirukti, says, samyag adhiyate 'sminn atma-tattva-
692 yathatmyam: "When the mind is fixed for understanding the
> self, it is said to be in samadhi. " Samadhi is never
> possible for persons interested in material sense enjoyment,
> nor for those who are bewildered by such temporary things.
> They are more or less condemned by the process of material
> energy.
>
> Bg 2.45
693
694 TEXT 45
695
696 TRANSLATION
697
698 The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three
699 modes of material nature. O Arjuna,
700 become transcendental to these three modes. Be free from
> all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety,
> and be established in the self.
>
> PURPORT
701
702 All material activities involve actions and reactions in
703 the three modes of material nature. They are meant for
704 fruitive results, which cause bondage in the material world.
> The Vedas deal mostly with fruitive activities to
> gradually elevate the general public from the field of
> sense gratification to a position on the transcendental
> plane. Arjuna, as a student and friend of Lord Krsna, is
> advised to raise himself to the transcendental position of
> Vedanta philosophy where, in the beginning, there is brahma-
> jijnasa, or questions on the supreme transcendence. All the
> living entities who are in the material world are
> struggling very hard for existence. For them the Lord,
> after creation of the material world, gave the Vedic wisdom
> advising how to live and get rid of the material
> entanglement. When the activities for sense gratification,
> namely the karma-kanda chapter, are finished, then the
> chance for spiritual realization is offered in the form of
> the Upanisads, which are part of different Vedas, as the
> Bhagavad-gita is a part of the fifth Veda, namely the
> Mahabharata. The Upanisads mark the beginning of
> transcendental life.
>
> As long as the material body exists, there are actions and
705 reactions in the material modes. One has to learn tolerance
706 in the face of dualities such as happiness and distress, or
> cold and warmth, and by tolerating such dualities become
> free from anxieties regarding gain and loss. This
> transcendental position is achieved in full Krsna
> consciousness when one is fully dependent on the good will
> of Krsna.
>
> Bg 2.46
707
708 TEXT 46
709
710 TRANSLATION
711
712 All purposes served by a small well can at once
713 be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all
714 the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows
> the purpose behind them.
>
> PURPORT
715
716 The rituals and sacrifices mentioned in the karma-kanda
717 division of the Vedic literature are meant to encourage
718 gradual development of self-realization. And the purpose of
> self-realization is clearly stated in the Fifteenth Chapter
> of the Bhagavad-gita (15.15): the purpose of studying the
> Vedas is to know Lord Krsna, the primeval cause of
> everything. So, self-realization means understanding Krsna
> and one's eternal relationship with Him. The relationship
> of the living entities with Krsna is also mentioned in the
> Fifteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita (15.7). The living
> entities are parts and parcels of Krsna; therefore, revival
> of Krsna consciousness by the individual living entity is
> the highest perfectional stage of Vedic knowledge. This is
> confirmed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.33.7) as follows:
>
> aho bata sva-paco 'to gariyan yaj-jihvagre vartate nama
719 tubhyam tepus tapas te juhuvuh sasnur arya brahmanucur nama
720 grnanti ye te
>
> "O my Lord, a person who is chanting Your holy name,
721 although born of a low family like that of a candala [dog-
722 eater], is situated on the highest platform of self-
> realization. Such a person must have performed all kinds of
> penances and sacrifices according to Vedic rituals and
> studied the Vedic literatures many, many times after taking
> his bath in all the holy places of pilgrimage. Such a
> person is considered to be the best of the Aryan family.
>
> So one must be intelligent enough to understand the purpose
723 of the Vedas, without being attached to the rituals only,
724 and must not desire to be elevated to the heavenly kingdoms
> for a better quality of sense gratification. It is not
> possible for the common man in this age to follow all the
> rules and regulations of the Vedic rituals, nor is it
> possible to study all of the Vedanta and the Upanisads
> thoroughly.
>
> It requires much time, energy, knowledge and resources to
725 execute the purposes of the Vedas. This is hardly possible
726 in this age. The best purpose of Vedic culture is served,
> however, by chanting the holy name of the Lord, as
> recommended by Lord Caitanya, the deliverer of all fallen
> souls. When Lord Caitanya was asked by a great Vedic
> scholar, Prakasananda Sarasvati, why He, the Lord, was
> chanting the holy name of the Lord like a sentimentalist
> instead of studying Vedanta philosophy, the Lord replied
> that His spiritual master had found Him to be a great fool
> and thus asked Him to chant the holy name of Lord Krsna.
> He did so, and became ecstatic like a madman. In this Age
> of Kali, most of the population is foolish and not
> adequately educated to understand Vedanta philosophy; the
> best purpose of Vedanta philosophy is served by
> inoffensively chanting the holy name of the Lord. Vedanta
> is the last word in Vedic wisdom, and the author and knower
> of the Vedanta philosophy is Lord Krsna; and the highest
> Vedantist is the great soul who takes pleasure in chanting
> the holy name of the Lord. That is the ultimate purpose of
> all Vedic mysticism.
>
> Bg 2.47
727
728 TEXT 47
729
730 TRANSLATION
731
732 You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you
733 are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider
734 yourself the cause of the results of your activities,
> and never be attached to not doing your duty.
>
> PURPORT
735
736 There are three considerations here: prescribed duties,
737 capricious work, and inaction. Prescribed duties are
738 activities enjoined in terms of one's acquired modes of
> material nature. Capricious work means actions without the
> sanction of authority, and inaction means not performing
> one's prescribed duties. The Lord advised that Arjuna not
> be inactive, but that he perform his prescribed duty
> without being attached to the result. One who is attached
> to the result of his work is also the cause of the action.
> Thus he is the enjoyer or sufferer of the result of such
> actions.
>
> As far as prescribed duties are concerned, they can be
739 fitted into three subdivisions, namely routine work,
740 emergency work and desired activities. Routine work
> performed as an obligation in terms of the scriptural
> injunctions, without desire for results
> , is action in the mode of goodness.
> Work with results becomes the cause of bondage; therefore
> such work is not auspicious. Everyone has his proprietary
> right in regard to prescribed duties, but should act
> without attachment to the result; such disinterested
> obligatory duties doubtlessly lead one to the path of
> liberation.
>
> Arjuna was therefore advised by the Lord to fight as a
741 matter of duty without attachment to the result. His
742 nonparticipation in the battle is another side of
> attachment. Such attachment never leads one to the path of
> salvation. Any attachment, positive or negative, is cause
> for bondage. Inaction is sinful. Therefore, fighting as a
> matter of duty was the only auspicious path of salvation
> for Arjuna.
>
> Bg 2.48
743
744 TEXT 48
745
746 TRANSLATION
747
748 Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna,
749 abandoning all attachment to success or failure.
750 Such equanimity is called yoga.
>
> PURPORT
751
752 Krsna tells Arjuna that he should act in yoga. And what is
753 that yoga? Yoga means to concentrate the mind upon the
754 Supreme by controlling the ever-disturbing senses. And who
> is the Supreme? The Supreme is the Lord. And because He
> Himself is telling Arjuna to fight, Arjuna has nothing to
> do with the results of the fight. Gain or victory are Krsna'
> s concern; Arjuna is simply advised to act according to the
> dictation of Krsna. The following of Krsna's dictation is
> real yoga, and this is practiced in the process called
> Krsna consciousness. By Krsna consciousness only can one
> give up the sense of proprietorship. One has to become the
> servant of Krsna, or the servant of the servant of Krsna.
> That is the right way to discharge duty in Krsna
> consciousness, which alone can help one to act in yoga.
>
> Arjuna is a ksatriya, and as such he is participating in
755 the varnasrama-dharma institution. It is said in the Visnu
756 Purana that in the varnasrama-dharma, the whole aim is to
> satisfy Visnu. No one should satisfy himself, as is the
> rule in the material world, but one should satisfy Krsna.
> So unless one satisfies Krsna, one cannot correctly
> observe the principles of varnasrama-dharma. Indirectly,
> Arjuna was advised to act as Krsna told him.
>
> Bg 2.49
757
758 TEXT 49
759
760 TRANSLATION
761
762 O Dhananjaya, keep all abominable activities
763 far distant by devotional service, and in
764 that consciousness surrender unto the Lord. Those who want
> to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.
>
> PURPORT
765
766 One who has actually come to understand one's
767 constitutional position as an eternal servitor of the Lord
768 gives up all engagements save working in Krsna
> consciousness. As already explained, buddhi-yoga means
> transcendental loving service to the Lord. Such devotional
> service is the right course of action for the living entity.
> Only misers desire to enjoy the fruit of their own work
> just to be further entangled in material bondage. Except
> for work in Krsna consciousness, all activities are
> abominable because they continually bind the worker to the
> cycle of birth and death. One should therefore never desire
> to be the cause of work. Everything should be done in Krsna
> consciousness, for the satisfaction of Krsna. Misers do not
> know how to utilize the assets of riches which they acquire
> by good fortune or by hard labor. One should spend all
> energies working in Krsna consciousness, and that will make
> one's life successful. Like misers, unfortunate persons
> do not employ their human energy in the service of the Lord.
>
> Bg 2.50
769
770 TEXT 50
771
772 TRANSLATION
773
774 A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both
775 good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive
776 for yoga, which is the art of all work.
>
> PURPORT
777
778 Since time immemorial each living entity has accumulated
779 the various reactions of his good and bad work. As such, he
780 is continuously ignorant of his real constitutional
> position. One's ignorance can be removed by the instruction
> of the Bhagavad-gita, which teaches one to surrender unto
> Lord Sri Krsna in all respects and become liberated from
> the chained victimization of action and reaction, birth
> after birth. Arjuna is therefore advised to act in Krsna
> consciousness, the purifying process of resultant action.
>
> Bg 2.51
781
782 TEXT 51
783
784 TRANSLATION
785
786 By thus engaging in devotional service to
787 the Lord, great sages or devotees free
788 themselves from the results of work
> in the material world. In this way they become free from
> the cycle of birth and death and attain the state beyond
> all miseries [by going back to Godhead].
>
> PURPORT
789
790 The liberated living entities belong to that place where
791 there are no material miseries. The Bhagavatam (10.14.58)
792 says:
>
> samasrita ye pada-pallava-plavam mahat-padam punya-
793 yaso murareh bhavambudhir vatsa-padam param padam padam
794 padam yad vipadam na tesam
>
> "For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the
795 Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is
796 famous as Mukunda, or the giver of mukti, the ocean of the
> material world is like the water contained in a calf's
> footprint. param padam, or the place where there are no
> material miseries, or Vaikuntha, is his goal, not the place
> where there is danger in every step of life."
>
> Owing to ignorance, one does not know that this material
797 world is a miserable place where there are dangers at every
798 step. Out of ignorance only, less intelligent persons try
> to adjust to the situation by fruitive activities, thinking
> that the resultant actions will make them happy. They do
> not know that no kind of material body anywhere within the
> universe can give life without miseries. The miseries of
> life, namely birth, death, old age and diseases, are
> present everywhere within the material world. But one who
> understands his real constitutional position as the eternal
> servitor of the Lord, and thus knows the position of the
> Personality of Godhead, engages himself in the
> transcendental loving service of the Lord. Consequently he
> becomes qualified to enter into the Vaikuntha planets,
> where there is neither material, miserable life nor the
> influence of time and death. To know one's constitutional
> position means to know also the sublime position of the
> Lord. One who wrongly thinks that the living entity's
> position and the Lord's position are on the same level is
> to be understood to be in darkness and therefore unable to
> engage himself in the devotional service of the Lord. He
> becomes a lord himself and thus paves the way for the
> repetition of birth and death. But one who, understanding
> that his position is to serve, transfers himself to the
> service of the Lord, at once becomes eligible for
> Vaikunthaloka. Service for the cause of the Lord is called
> karma-yoga or buddhi-yoga, or in plain words, devotional
> service to the Lord.
>
> Bg 2.52
799
800 TEXT 52
801
802 TRANSLATION
803
804 When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest
805 of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has
806 been heard and all that is to be heard.
>
> PURPORT
807
808 There are many good examples in the lives of the great
809 devotees of the Lord of those who became indifferent to the
810 rituals of the Vedas simply by devotional service to the
> Lord. When a person factually understands Krsna and his
> relationship with Krsna, he naturally becomes completely
> indifferent to the rituals of fruitive activities, even
> though an experienced brahmana. Sri Madhavendra Puri, a
> great devotee and acarya in the line of the devotees, says:
>
> sandhya-vandana bhadram astu bhavato bhoh snana tubhyam
811 namo bho devah pitaras ca tarpana-vidhau naham ksamah
812 ksamyatam yatra kvapi nisadya yadava-kulottamasya kamsa-
> dvisah smaram smaram agham harami tad alam manye kim anyena
> me
>
> "O my prayers three times a day, all glory to you.
813 O bathing, I offer my obeisances unto you. O demigods!
814 O forefathers! Please excuse me for my inability to offer
> you my respects. Now wherever I sit, I can remember the
> great descendant of the Yadu dynasty [Krsna], the enemy of
> Kamsa, and thereby I can free myself from all sinful
> bondage. I think this is sufficient for me."
>
> The Vedic rites and rituals are imperative for neophytes:
815 comprehending all kinds of prayer three times a day, taking
816 a bath early in the morning, offering respects to the
> forefathers, etc. But when one is fully in Krsna
> consciousness and is engaged in His transcendental loving
> service, one becomes indifferent to all these regulative
> principles because he has already attained perfection. If
> one can reach the platform of understanding by service to
> the Supreme Lord Krsna, he has no longer to execute
> different types of penances and sacrifices as recommended
> in revealed scriptures. And, similarly, if one has not
> understood that the purpose of the Vedas is to reach Krsna
> and simply engages in the rituals, etc., then he is
> uselessly wasting time in such engagements. Persons in
> Krsna consciousness transcend the limit of sabda-brahma, or
> the range of the Vedas and Upanisads.
>
> Bg 2.53
817
818 TEXT 53
819
820 TRANSLATION
821
822 When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery
823 language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the
824 trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the
> divine consciousness.
>
> PURPORT
825
826 To say that one is in samadhi is to say that one has fully
827 realized Krsna consciousness; that is, one in full samadhi
828 has realized Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. The highest
> perfection of self-realization is to understand that one is
> eternally the servitor of Krsna and that one's only
> business is to discharge one's duties in Krsna
> consciousness. A Krsna conscious person, or unflinching
> devotee of the Lord, should not be disturbed by the flowery
> language of the Vedas nor be engaged in fruitive activities
> for promotion to the heavenly kingdom. In Krsna
> consciousness, one comes directly into communion with Krsna,
> and thus all directions from Krsna may be understood in
> that transcendental state. One is sure to achieve results
> by such activities and attain conclusive knowledge. One has
> only to carry out the orders of Krsna or His representative,
> the spiritual master.
>
> Bg 2.54
829
830 TEXT 54
831
832 TRANSLATION
833
834 Arjuna said: O Krsna, what are the symptoms of one whose
835 consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he
836 speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how
> does he walk?
>
> PURPORT
837
838 As there are symptoms for each and every man, in terms of
839 his particular situation, similarly one who is Krsna
840 conscious has his particular nature-talking, walking,
> thinking, feeling, etc. As a rich man has his symptoms by
> which he is known as a rich man, as a diseased man has his
> symptoms by which he is known as diseased, or as a learned
> man has his symptoms, so a man in transcendental
> consciousness of Krsna has specific symptoms in various
> dealings. One can know his specific symptoms from the
> Bhagavad-gita. Most important is how the man in Krsna
> consciousness speaks; for speech is the most important
> quality of any man. It is said that a fool is undiscovered
> as long as he does not speak, and certainly a well-dressed
> fool cannot be identified unless he speaks, but as soon as
> he speaks, he reveals himself at once. The immediate
> symptom of a Krsna conscious man is that he speaks only of
> Krsna and of matters relating to Him. Other symptoms then
> automatically follow, as stated below.
>
> Bg 2.55
841
842 TEXT 55
843
844 TRANSLATION
845
846 The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O Partha, when a
847 man gives up all varieties of desire for sense
848 gratification, which arise from mental concoction, and when
> his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self
> alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental
> consciousness.
>
> PURPORT
849
850 The Bhagavatam affirms that any person who is fully in
851 Krsna consciousness, or devotional service of the Lord, has
852 all the good qualities of the great sages, whereas a person
> who is not so transcendentally situated has no good
> qualifications, because he is sure to be taking refuge in
> his own mental concoctions. Consequently, it is rightly
> said herein that one has to give up all kinds of sense
> desire manufactured by mental concoction. Artificially,
> such sense desires cannot be stopped. But if one is engaged
> in Krsna consciousness, then, automatically, sense desires
> subside without extraneous efforts. Therefore, one has to
> engage himself in Krsna consciousness without hesitation,
> for this devotional service will instantly help one onto
> the platform of transcendental consciousness. The highly
> developed soul always remains satisfied in himself by
> realizing himself as the eternal servitor of the Supreme
> Lord. Such a transcendentally situated person has no sense
> desires resulting from petty materialism; rather, he
> remains always happy in his natural position of eternally
> serving the Supreme Lord.
>
> Bg 2.56
853
854 TEXT 56
855
856 TRANSLATION
857
858 One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold
859 miseries or elated when there is happiness, and
860 who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a
> sage of steady mind.
>
> PURPORT
861
862 The word muni means one who can agitate his mind in various
863 ways for mental speculation without coming to a factual
864 conclusion. It is said that every muni has a different
> angle of vision, and unless a muni differs from other munis,
> he cannot be called a muni in the strict sense of the term.
> Nasav rsir yasya matam na bhinnam (Mahabharata, Vana-
> parva 313.117). But a sthita-dhir muni, as mentioned herein
> by the Lord, is different from an ordinary muni. The sthita-
> dhir muni is always in Krsna consciousness, for he has
> exhausted all his business of creative speculation. He is
> called prasanta-nihsesa-mano-rathantara (Stotra-ratna 43),
> or one who has surpassed the stage of mental speculations
> and has come to the conclusion that Lord Sri Krsna, or
> Vasudeva, is everything (vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma su-
> durlabhah). He is called a muni fixed in mind. Such a fully
> Krsna conscious person is not at all disturbed by the
> onslaughts of the threefold miseries, for he accepts all
> miseries as the mercy of the Lord, thinking himself only
> worthy of more trouble due to his past misdeeds; and he
> sees that his miseries, by the grace of the Lord, are
> minimized to the lowest. Similarly, when he is happy he
> gives credit to the Lord, thinking himself unworthy of the
> happiness; he realizes that it is due only to the Lord's
> grace that he is in such a comfortable condition and able
> to render better service to the Lord. And, for the service
> of the Lord, he is always daring and active and is not
> influenced by attachment or aversion. Attachment means
> accepting things for one's own sense gratification, and
> detachment is the absence of such sensual attachment. But
> one fixed in Krsna consciousness has neither attachment nor
> detachment because his life is dedicated in the service of
> the Lord. Consequently he is not at all angry even when his
> attempts are unsuccessful. Success or no success, a Krsna
> conscious person is always steady in his determination.
>
> Bg 2.57
865
866 TEXT 57
867
868 TRANSLATION
869
870 In the material world, one who is unaffected by
871 whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising
872 it nor despising it, is firmly fixed in perfect
> knowledge.
>
> PURPORT
873
874 There is always some upheaval in the material world which
875 may be good or evil. One who is not agitated by such
876 material upheavals, who is unaffected by good and evil, is
> to be understood to be fixed in Krsna consciousness. As
> long as one is in the material world there is always the
> possibility of good and evil because this world is full of
> duality. But one who is fixed in Krsna consciousness is not
> affected by good and evil, because he is simply concerned
> with Krsna, who is all-good absolute. Such consciousness in
> Krsna situates one in a perfect transcendental position
> called, technically, samadhi.
>
> Bg 2.58
877
878 TEXT 58
879
880 TRANSLATION
881
882 One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects,
883 as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly
884 fixed in perfect
> consciousness.
>
> PURPORT
885
886 The test of a yogi, devotee, or self-realized soul is that
887 he is able to control the senses according to his plan.
888 Most people, however, are servants of the senses and are
> thus directed by the dictation of the senses. That is the
> answer to the question as to how the yogi is situated. The
> senses are compared to venomous serpents. They want to act
> very loosely and without restriction. The yogi, or the
> devotee, must be very strong to control the serpents-like a
> snake charmer. He never allows them to act independently.
> There are many injunctions in the revealed scriptures; some
> of them are do-not's, and some of them are do's. Unless one
> is able to follow the do's and the do-not's, restricting
> oneself from sense enjoyment, it is not possible to be
> firmly fixed in Krsna consciousness. The best example, set
> herein, is the tortoise. The tortoise can at any moment
> wind up his senses and exhibit them again at any time for
> particular purposes. Similarly, the senses of the Krsna
> conscious persons are used only for some particular purpose
> in the service of the Lord and are withdrawn otherwise.
> Arjuna is being taught here to use his senses for the
> service of the Lord, instead of for his own satisfaction.
> Keeping the senses always in the service of the Lord is the
> example set by the analogy of the tortoise, who keeps the
> senses within.
>
> Bg 2.59
889
890 TEXT 59
891
892 TRANSLATION
893
894 The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment,
895 though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing
896 such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is
> fixed in consciousness.
>
> PURPORT
897
898 Unless one is transcendentally situated, it is not possible
899 to cease from sense enjoyment. The process of restriction
900 from sense enjoyment by rules and regulations is something
> like restricting a diseased person from certain types of
> eatables. The patient, however, neither likes such
> restrictions nor loses his taste for eatables. Similarly,
> sense restriction by some spiritual process like astanga-
> yoga, in the matter of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama,
> pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, etc., is recommended for less
> intelligent persons who have no better knowledge. But one
> who has tasted the beauty of the Supreme Lord Krsna, in the
> course of his advancement in Krsna consciousness, no longer
> has a taste for dead, material things. Therefore,
> restrictions are there for the less intelligent neophytes
> in the spiritual advancement of life, but such restrictions
> are only good until one actually has a taste for Krsna
> consciousness. When one is actually Krsna conscious, he
> automatically loses his taste for pale things.
>
> Bg 2.60
901
902 TEXT 60
903
904 TRANSLATION
905
906 The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they
907 forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of
908 discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.
>
> PURPORT
909
910 There are many learned sages, philosophers and
911 transcendentalists who try to conquer the senses, but in
912 spite of their endeavors, even the greatest of them
> sometimes fall victim to material sense enjoyment due to
> the agitated mind. Even Visvamitra, a great sage and
> perfect yogi, was misled by Menaka into sex enjoyment,
> although the yogi was endeavoring for sense control with
> severe types of penance and yoga practice. And, of course,
> there are so many similar instances in the history of the
> world. Therefore, it is very difficult to control the mind
> and senses without being fully Krsna conscious. Without
> engaging the mind in Krsna, one cannot cease such material
> engagements. A practical example is given by Sri
> Yamunacarya, a great saint and devotee, who says:
>
> yad-avadhi mama cetah krsna-padaravinde nava-nava-rasa-
913 dhamany udyatam rantum asit tad-avadhi bata nari-sangame
914 smaryamane bhavati mukha-vikarah susthu nisthivanam ca
>
> "Since my mind has been engaged in the service of the lotus
915 feet of Lord Krsna, and I have been enjoying an ever new
916 transcendental humor, whenever I think of sex life with a
> woman, my face at once turns from it, and I spit at the
> thought."
>
> Krsna consciousness is such a transcendentally nice thing
917 that automatically material enjoyment becomes distasteful.
918 It is as if a hungry man had satisfied his hunger by a
> sufficient quantity of nutritious eatables. Maharaja
> Ambarisa also conquered a great yogi, Durvasa Muni, simply
> because his mind was engaged in Krsna consciousness (sa vai
> manah krsna-padaravindayor vacamsi vaikuntha-gunanuvarnane).
>
> Bg 2.61
919
920 TEXT 61
921
922 TRANSLATION
923
924 One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full
925 control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a
926 man of steady intelligence.
>
> PURPORT
927
928 That the highest conception of yoga perfection is Krsna
929 consciousness is clearly explained in this verse. And
930 unless one is Krsna conscious it is not at all possible to
> control the senses. As cited above, the great sage Durvasa
> Muni picked a quarrel with Maharaja Ambarisa, and Durvasa
> Muni unnecessarily became angry out of pride and therefore
> could not check his senses. On the other hand, the king,
> although not as powerful a yogi as the sage, but a devotee
> of the Lord, silently tolerated all the sage's injustices
> and thereby emerged victorious. The king was able to
> control his senses because of the following qualifications,
> as mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (9.4.18–20):
>
> sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayor vacamsi vaikuntha-
931 gunanuvarnane karau harer mandira-marjanadisu srutim
932 cakaracyuta-sat-kathodaye
>
> mukunda-lingalaya-darsane drsau tad-bhrtya-gatra-sparse '
933 nga-sangamam ghranam ca tat-pada-saroja-saurabhe srimat-
934 tulasya rasanam tad-arpite
>
> padau hareh ksetra-padanusarpane siro hrsikesa-
935 padabhivandane kamam ca dasye na tu kama-kamyaya
936 yathottama-sloka-janasraya ratih
>
> "King Ambarisa fixed his mind on the lotus feet of Lord
937 Krsna, engaged his words in describing the abode of the
938 Lord, his hands in cleansing the temple of the Lord, his
> ears in hearing the pastimes of the Lord, his eyes in
> seeing the form of the Lord, his body in touching the body
> of the devotee, his nostrils in smelling the flavor of the
> flowers offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, his tongue
> in tasting the tulasi leaves offered to Him, his legs in
> traveling to the holy place where His temple is situated,
> his head in offering obeisances unto the Lord, and his
> desires in fulfilling the desires of the Lord... and all
> these qualifications made him fit to become a mat-para
> devotee of the Lord."
>
> The word mat-para is most significant in this connection.
939 How one can become mat-para is described in the life of
940 Maharaja Ambarisa. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, a great
> scholar and acarya in the line of the mat-para, remarks,
> mad-bhakti-prabhavena sarvendriya-vijaya-purvika svatma-
> drstih sulabheti bhavah. "The senses can be completely
> controlled only by the strength of devotional service to
> Krsna." Also, the example of fire is sometimes given: "As
> a blazing fire burns everything within a room,
> Lord Visnu, situated in the heart of the yogi,
> burns up all kinds of impurities." The Yoga-sutra also
> prescribes meditation on Visnu, and not meditation on the
> void. The so-called yogis who meditate on something which
> is not on the Visnu platform simply waste their time in a
> vain search after some phantasmagoria. We have to be Krsna
> conscious-devoted to the Personality of Godhead. This is
> the aim of the real yoga.
>
> Bg 2.62
941
942 TEXT 62
943
944 TRANSLATION
945
946 While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person
947 develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust
948 develops, and from lust anger arises.
>
> PURPORT
949
950 One who is not Krsna conscious is subjected to material
951 desires while contemplating the objects of the senses. The
952 senses require real engagements, and if they are not
> engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord,
> they will certainly seek engagement in the service of
> materialism. In the material world everyone, including Lord
> Siva and Lord Brahma-to say nothing of other demigods in
> the heavenly planets-is subjected to the influence of sense
> objects, and the only method to get out of this puzzle of
> material existence is to become Krsna conscious. Lord Siva
> was deep in meditation, but when Parvati agitated him for
> sense pleasure, he agreed to the proposal, and as a result
> Kartikeya was born. When Haridasa Thakura was a young
> devotee of the Lord, he was similarly allured by the
> incarnation of Maya-devi, but Haridasa easily passed the
> test because of his unalloyed devotion to Lord Krsna. As
> illustrated in the above-mentioned verse of Sri Yamunacarya,
> a sincere devotee of the Lord shuns all material sense
> enjoyment due to his higher taste for spiritual enjoyment
> in the association of the Lord. That is the secret of
> success. One who is not, therefore, in Krsna consciousness,
> however powerful he may be in controlling the senses by
> artificial repression, is sure ultimately to fail, for the
> slightest thought of sense pleasure will agitate him to
> gratify his desires.
>
> Bg 2.63
953
954 TEXT 63
955
956 TRANSLATION
957
958 From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion
959 bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered,
960 intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one
> falls down again into the material pool.
>
> PURPORT
961
962 Srila Rupa Gosvami has given us this direction:
963 prapancikataya buddhya hari-sambandhi-vastunah mumuksubhih
964 parityago vairagyam phalgu kathyate (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu
> 1.2.258)
>
> By development of Krsna consciousness one can know that
965 everything has its use in the service of the Lord. Those
966 who are without knowledge of Krsna consciousness
> artificially try to avoid material objects, and as a result,
> although they desire liberation from material bondage,
> they do not attain to the perfect stage of renunciation.
> Their so-called renunciation is called phalgu, or less
> important. On the other hand, a person in Krsna
> consciousness knows how to use everything in the service of
> the Lord; therefore he does not become a victim of material
> consciousness. For example, for an impersonalist, the Lord,
> or the Absolute, being impersonal, cannot eat. Whereas an
> impersonalist tries to avoid good eatables, a devotee knows
> that Krsna is the supreme enjoyer and that He eats all that
> is offered to Him in devotion. So, after offering good
> eatables to the Lord, the devotee takes the remnants,
> called prasadam. Thus everything becomes spiritualized, and
> there is no danger of a downfall. The devotee takes
> prasadam in Krsna consciousness, whereas the nondevotee
> rejects it as material. The impersonalist, therefore,
> cannot enjoy life, due to his artificial renunciation; and
> for this reason, a slight agitation of the mind pulls him
> down again into the pool of material existence. It is said
> that such a soul, even though rising up to the point of
> liberation, falls down again due to his not having support
> in devotional service.
>
> Bg 2.64
967
968 TEXT 64
969
970 TRANSLATION
971
972 But a person free from all attachment and aversion and
973 able to control his senses through regulative
974 principles of freedom can obtain the complete
> mercy of the Lord
> .
>
> PURPORT
975
976 It is already explained that one may externally control the
977 senses by some artificial process, but unless the senses
978 are engaged in the transcendental service of the Lord,
> there is every chance of a fall. Although the person in
> full Krsna consciousness may apparently be on the sensual
> plane, because of his being Krsna conscious he has no
> attachment to sensual activities. The Krsna conscious
> person is concerned only with the satisfaction of Krsna,
> and nothing else. Therefore he is transcendental to all
> attachment and detachment. If Krsna wants, the devotee can
> do anything which is ordinarily undesirable; and if Krsna
> does not want, he shall not do that which he would have
> ordinarily done for his own satisfaction. Therefore to act
> or not to act is within his control because he acts only
> under the direction of Krsna. This consciousness is the
> causeless mercy of the Lord, which the devotee can achieve
> in spite of his being attached to the sensual platform.
>
> Bg 2.65
979
980 TEXT 65
981
982 TRANSLATION
983
984 For one thus satisfied [in Krsna
985 consciousness], the threefold miseries of material
986 existence exist no longer; in such satisfied consciousness
> , one's intelligence is soon well established.
>
> Bg 2.66
987
988 TEXT 66
989
990 TRANSLATION
991
992 One who is not connected with the Supreme [in
993 Krsna consciousness] can have neither
994 transcendental intelligence nor a steady
> mind, without which there is no possibility of
> peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?
>
> PURPORT
995
996 Unless one is in Krsna consciousness, there is no
997 possibility of peace. So it is confirmed in the Fifth
998 Chapter (5.29) that when one understands that Krsna is the
> only enjoyer of all the good results of sacrifice and
> penance, that He is the proprietor of all universal
> manifestations, and that He is the real friend of all
> living entities, then only can one have real peace.
> Therefore, if one is not in Krsna consciousness, there
> cannot be a final goal for the mind. Disturbance is due to
> want of an ultimate goal, and when one is certain that
> Krsna is the enjoyer, proprietor and friend of everyone and
> everything, then one can, with a steady mind, bring about
> peace. Therefore, one who is engaged without a relationship
> with Krsna is certainly always in distress and is without
> peace, however much he may make a show of peace and
> spiritual advancement in life. Krsna consciousness is a
> self-manifested peaceful condition which can be achieved
> only in relationship with Krsna.
>
> Bg 2.67
999
1000 TEXT 67
1001
1002 TRANSLATION
1003
1004 As a boat on the water is swept away by a strong wind, even
1005 one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can
1006 carry away a man's intelligence.
>
> PURPORT
1007
1008 Unless all of the senses are engaged in the service of the
1009 Lord, even one of them engaged in sense gratification can
1010 deviate the devotee from the path of transcendental
> advancement. As mentioned in the life of Maharaja Ambarisa,
> all of the senses must be engaged in Krsna consciousness,
> for that is the correct technique for controlling the mind.
>
> Bg 2.68
1011
1012 TEXT 68
1013
1014 TRANSLATION
1015
1016 Therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained
1017 from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence.
1018
> PURPORT
1019
1020 One can curb the forces of sense gratification only by
1021 means of Krsna consciousness, or engaging all the senses in
1022 the transcendental loving service of the Lord. As enemies
> are curbed by superior force, the senses can
> similarly be curbed, not by any human endeavor, but only by
> keeping them engaged in the service of the Lord. One who
> has understood this-that only by Krsna consciousness is one
> really established in intelligence and that one should
> practice this art under the guidance of a bona fide
> spiritual master-is called sadhaka, or a suitable candidate
> for liberation.
>
> Bg 2.69
1023
1024 TEXT 69
1025
1026 TRANSLATION
1027
1028 What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for
1029 the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all
1030 beings is night for the introspective sage.
>
> PURPORT
1031
1032 There are two classes of intelligent men. One is
1033 intelligent in material activities for sense gratification,
1034 and the other is introspective and awake to the cultivation
> of self-realization. Activities of the introspective sage,
> or thoughtful man, are night for persons materially
> absorbed. Materialistic persons remain asleep in such a
> night due to their ignorance of self-realization. The
> introspective sage remains alert in the "night" of the
> materialistic men. The sage feels transcendental pleasure
> in the gradual advancement of spiritual culture, whereas
> the man in materialistic activities, being asleep to self-
> realization, dreams of varieties of sense pleasure, feeling
> sometimes happy and sometimes distressed in his sleeping
> condition. The introspective man is always indifferent to
> materialistic happiness and distress. He goes on with his
> self-realization activities undisturbed by material
> reactions.
>
> Bg 2.70
1035
1036 TEXT 70
1037
1038 TRANSLATION
1039
1040 A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of
1041 desires-that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is
1042 ever being filled but is always still-can alone achieve
> peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.
>
> PURPORT
1043
1044 Although the vast ocean is always filled with water, it is
1045 always, especially during the rainy season, being filled
1046 with much more water. But the ocean remains the same-steady;
> it is not agitated, nor does it cross beyond the limit of
> its brink. That is also true of a person fixed in Krsna
> consciousness. As long as one has the material body, the
> demands of the body for sense gratification will continue.
> The devotee, however, is not disturbed by such desires,
> because of his fullness. A Krsna conscious man is not in
> need of anything, because the Lord fulfills all his
> material necessities. Therefore he is like the ocean-always
> full in himself. Desires may come to him like the waters of
> the rivers that flow into the ocean, but he is steady in
> his activities, and he is not even slightly disturbed by
> desires for sense gratification. That is the proof of a
> Krsna conscious man-one who has lost all inclinations for
> material sense gratification, although the desires are
> present. Because he remains satisfied in the transcendental
> loving service of the Lord, he can remain steady, like the
> ocean, and therefore enjoy full peace. Others, however, who
> want to fulfill desires even up to the limit of liberation,
> what to speak of material success, never attain peace. The
> fruitive workers, the salvationists, and also the yogis who
> are after mystic powers are all unhappy because of
> unfulfilled desires. But the person in Krsna consciousness
> is happy in the service of the Lord, and he has no desires
> to be fulfilled. In fact, he does not even desire
> liberation from the so-called material bondage. The
> devotees of Krsna have no material desires, and therefore
> they are in perfect peace.
>
> Bg 2.71
1047
1048 TEXT 71
1049
1050 TRANSLATION
1051
1052 A person who has given up all desires for sense
1053 gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given
1054 up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego-
> he alone can attain real peace.
>
> PURPORT
1055
1056 To become desireless means not to desire anything for sense
1057 gratification. In other words, desire for becoming Krsna
1058 conscious is actually desirelessness. To understand one's
> actual position as the eternal servitor of Krsna, without
> falsely claiming this material body to be oneself and
> without falsely claiming proprietorship over anything in
> the world, is the perfect stage of Krsna consciousness. One
> who is situated in this perfect stage knows that because
> Krsna is the proprietor of everything, everything
> must be used for the satisfaction of Krsna. Arjuna did not
> want to fight for his own sense satisfaction, but when he
> became fully Krsna conscious he fought because Krsna wanted
> him to fight. For himself there was no desire to fight, but
> for Krsna the same Arjuna fought to his best ability.
> Real desirelessness is desire for the satisfaction of
> Krsna, not an artificial
> attempt to abolish desires. The living entity cannot be
> desireless or senseless, but he does have to change the
> quality of the desires. A materially desireless person
> certainly knows that everything belongs to Krsna (isavasyam
> idam sarvam), and therefore he does not falsely claim
> proprietorship over anything. This transcendental knowledge
> is based on self-realization-namely, knowing perfectly well
> that every living entity is an eternal part and parcel of
> Krsna in spiritual identity, and that the eternal
> position of the living entity is therefore never on the
> level of Krsna or greater than Him. This understanding of
> Krsna consciousness is the basic principle of real peace.
>
> Bg 2.72
1059
1060 TEXT 72
1061
1062 TRANSLATION
1063
1064 That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after
1065 attaining which a man is not bewildered. If one is thus
1066 situated even at the hour of death, one can enter into the
> kingdom of God.
>
> PURPORT
1067
1068 One can attain Krsna consciousness or divine life at once,
1069 within a second-or one may not attain such a state of life
1070 even after millions of births. It is only a matter of
> understanding and accepting the fact. Khatvanga Maharaja
> attained this state of life just a few minutes before his
> death, by surrendering unto Krsna. Nirvana means ending the
> process of materialistic life. According to Buddhist
> philosophy, there is only void after the completion of this
> material life, but Bhagavad-gita teaches differently.
> Actual life begins after the completion of this material
> life. For the gross materialist it is sufficient to know
> that one has to end this materialistic way of life, but for
> persons who are spiritually advanced, there is another life
> after this materialistic life. Before ending this life, if
> one fortunately becomes Krsna conscious, he at once attains
> the stage of brahma-nirvana. There is no difference between
> the kingdom of God and the devotional service of the Lord.
> Since both of them are on the absolute plane, to be engaged
> in the transcendental loving service of the Lord is to have
> attained the spiritual kingdom. In the material world there
> are activities of sense gratification, whereas in the
> spiritual world there are activities of Krsna consciousness.
> Attainment of Krsna consciousness even during this life is
> immediate attainment of Brahman, and one who is situated in
> Krsna consciousness has certainly already entered into the
> kingdom of God.
>
> Brahman is just the opposite of matter. Therefore brahmi
1071 sthiti means "not on the platform of material activities."
1072 Devotional service of the Lord is accepted in the Bhagavad-
> gita as the liberated stage (sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-
> bhuyaya kalpate). Therefore, brahmi sthiti is liberation
> from material bondage.
>
> Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has summarized this Second
1073 Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita as being the contents for the
1074 whole text. In the Bhagavad-gita, the subject matters are
> karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, and bhakti-yoga. In the Second
> Chapter karma-yoga and jnana-yoga have been clearly
> discussed, and a glimpse of bhakti-yoga has also been given,
> as the contents for the complete text.
>
> Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports to the Second Chapter
1075 of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita in the matter of its Contents.
1076