Following post gives a synopsis of the lecture of Bhagavad Gita Discourse by His Grace Balaram Das, disciple of His Holiness Radhanath Swami.
Venue : Schaumburg, IL
Lecture 1 on 02/19/2011 and Lecture 2 on 02/25/2011
Book : Bhagavad Gita As it is , by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Sawmi Prabhupada
Copyright : International Society for Krsna Consciouness ( ISKCON)
Introduction :
Bhagavad Gita is a widely read theistic science. Though this book is by far the most popular book, its true understanding is rare. Due to its intricate philosophy of life, often people tedn to interpret this text and conclude diffferent meanings from this book for their own selfish motives. Bhagavad Gita As it is is an attempt by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, to explain the real purport of Bhagavad Gita as it was meant to be, hence the book itself is tiltled as " Bhagavad Gita As it is "
Before embarking on study of this most important book, it is very essential to understand how Bhagavad Gita was understood by Arjuna, who heard it directly from Krsna. Krsna mentions in the Bhagavad Gita itself that why he had chosen Arjuna to be the first diciple to recieve this knowledge,
sa eväyaà mayä te 'dya
yogaù proktaù purätanaù
bhakto 'si me sakhä ceti
rahasyaà hy etad uttamam [ B.g. 4.3]
That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science.
So few important points before trying to understand Bhagavad Gita are
1. One must not be envious of The Supreme Personality of Godhead , Krsna , and he should be a friend to him.
2. One must know that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, For those who do not believe this or trust this statement , they must atleast believe it thereotically that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavad Gita will scientifically establish this truth.
3. One must try to understand these teachings with a surrendred spirit and not with a challenging spirit.
4. One must not interpret the teachings of Bhagavad Gita to suit one's purpose.
With these four things, when one listens to Bhagavad Gita As it is from a bonafide source who has studied Bhagavad Gita from a bonafide disciplic succession one can relish the message of Bhagavad Gita and make ones life successful.
Each Chapter of Bhagavad Gita has a specific theme and in our study we would be making an attempt to address these themes .
Chapter 1 of Bhagavad Gita Entitled " Observing the Armies on the Battle Field of Kurushetra is also called as " Arjuna Visahad Yoga" it has different sections as shown in the diagram above.
Section I :
Verse 1.1 - 1.27 provide an introduction to the battlefield of Kuruskhetra.
Subsection A : Preparation for War : Verses 1.1 – 1.11
This section Starts with the enquiry of Dhrtarastra to Sanjaya his secretary regarding the armies on the Battle field of Kurushestra and ends with Duryodhana’s description of the armies of Pandavas and Kuru’s.
Important points to remember from these verses are as follows :
1. Dhrtarastra’s addressing His sons and Kuru’s and separating out sons of Pandu for the family, reveals his mind to usurp the kingdom for himself
2. Significance of the holy place of pilgrimage called Kurukshetra referred here as dharma kshetra.
3. Dhrtarastra’s worry of the influence the holy place of pilgrimage called Kurukshetra will have on naturally pious Pandavas and the reverse influence on his own son Duryodhana.
4. Sanjaya’s prediciting the mind of Dhrtarastra and assuring him that the war will not be stopped.
5. Duryodana’s diplomatic address to Dronacharya in finding out his fault in training Dryatadhumyna in military art, although knowing that he will be killed by him. Braminical qualification of Dronacharaya of training Draystadhumna even though knowing that he will kill him .
6. Duryodhan’s description of Pandava’s strength and his making his commanders attentive.
7. Duryodhan’s encouragement to his soldiers by describing the strength of his army .
8. Duryodhana’s confidence of victoru based on Bhisma’s strength and his experience in fighting.
Subsection B : Signs of Victory of Pandavas ( verses 1.12 – 1.20 )
This section starts with blowing of conch shell by Bhismadeva and ends with the description of Krsna and Arjuna on a chariot with a flag marked with Hanuman. This section mainly gives description of the various signs of victory for Pandavas.
Points to remember
1. Bhishmadeva’s louldly blowing the conchshell to indicate to Duryodhana that it was impossible for him to win since Lord Krsna was on Pandava’s side, but still it was Bhismadeva’s duty to fight and hence there will not be any slackness in that
2. Duryodhana’s feeling joy on hearing Bhismadeva’s blowing of his conchshell loudly like a lion , thinking he would be victorious because of Bhismadeva.
3. Blowing of transcendental Conchshells by Krsna and Arjuna , indicating that they will be victorious . also word Madhava means husband of Goddess of fortune, wherever there is Krsna , Goddess of fortune resides there hence, victory and fortune were on Arjuna’s side. Also the chariot of Arjuna was donated by Agni deva , which can conquer all directions
4. Addressing Krsna as Hrishekesa means controller of the senses , as supersoul , all the senses of the living entities belong to Krsna and he directs the senses of the living entities from within with respect to the degree of surrender, but for a pure devotee he controls the senses completely. Blowing of different conchshells was encouraging to the soldiers on Pandavas’s side and hence another sign of victory.
5. Different conchshells were blown by different members of the Kuru dynasty , indicating all will be killed in the battlefield due to ill motives of Dhrtarastra.
6. Heart breaking on the side of Duryodhana after hearing the conchshells on Pandava’s side, due to their confidence in Lord Krsna.
7. Lord Krsna, seated on the chariot of Arjuna marked with a flag of Hanuman, indicating that as Hanuman assisted Lord Rama in victory over Ravana, he would do so here for Arjuna, with Lord Rama i.e Krsna himself being present on Arjuna’s side thus showing definite signs of Victory for pandavas
Subsection C : Krsna as Bhakta – Vatsala [ Verse 1.21 – verse 1.27]
This section describes Krsna’s nature as affectionate to his devotees.
Points to remember
1. Krsna addressed as Acyuta or infallible, since Krsna never fails in his affection for his devotee. For the sake of his pure devotee Arjuna , he had taken a role of a chariot driver, but his position as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not compromised in any situation. Arjuna was aware of Krsna’s position since his being a pure devotee and hence he addressed Krsna as Acyuta
2. Though Arjuna could not fall into illusion, because of his being a pure devotee and Krna’s friend, by the inspiration from the Krsna as a supersoul, Arjuna, wished to see the armies.
3. Krsna being the supersoul predicted Arjuna’s mind and asked him to look at the Kurus, especially Bhismadeva and Dronacarya so that he might fall into compassion and that illusion will set the ground for Krsna to recite the Bhagavad Gita for benefit of all.
Section II :
Verses 1.28- verse 1.46 in summary explain the five reasons which Arjuna gave for not fighting the battlefield
Verses 1.28 – 1.30 : Compassion
Arjuna felt compassion for the family members and all the soldiers from both sides who were going to fight in the battle of Kurushetra. Arjuna being a pure devotee of the Lord, though of it as unnecessary fight in order to acquire a kingdom , which will be tainted with blood of so many members of the Kuru dynasty. Due to his softheartedness owing to his being a pure devotee of the Lord, he was experiencing standing of hairs on his body. Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport that there are two situations when one experiences standing of hair on this body one is during spiritual ecstasy due to excessive joy and another situation is due to fear. In this case since Slipping of Arjuna’s famous Gandiva bow is mentioned it is understood that he was fearful and hence he was showing these symptoms. Such a situation happens due to material attachment.
Verses 1.31 – Verse 1.35 : Lack of Enjoyment
In these verses, Arjuna tells Krsna that if he were to kill all his relatives, than how is he going to enjoy the kingdom. Generally we want to win or acquire something with a hope of sharing and showing that to our friends and relatives in order to enjoy the victory. Arjuna’s Addressing Lord Krsna as Govinda which means one who gives pleasure to the senses is significant in this connection., by this Arjuna was indicating to Krsna that since he is Govinda, he should know what Arjuna is going through and hence he should not compel him to fight ,thus giving his senses pleasure, Srila Prabhupada explains here that Govinda is not meant for satistying our senses, but we are meant to satisfy Krsna’s senses and in turn our senses will also be satisfied once Krsna is satisfied and that is why Krsna is called Govinda. Genearlly everyone goes to Krsna to ask for facilities in order to satisfy his or her senses and they want Krsna to be their order supplier, but the constitutional position of a living entity is to satisfy Krsna’s senses and inturn the living entities senses will be completely satisfied, since we the living entities are infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme.
Verses 1.36 – 1.38 : Fear of Sinful Reactions
These three verses describes Arjuna’s saintly nature due to his being a devotee, he was aware of the sinful reaction of killing once family members and hence he argued with Krsna that he should not induce him to fight his family members, his addrerssing him as Madhava signifys that since Krsna was husband of Goddess of fortune, he should not ask Arjuna to act in a way which will bring him misfortune, but Krsna never brings misfortune to anyone, what to speak of his devotees. Prabhupada explains in the purport that as per Vedic wisdom there are 6 kinds of aggressors namely
1. poison giver, 2. one who sets fire to the house, 3. one who attacks with deadly weapons, 4. one who plunders riches, 5. one who occupies another’s land and 6. one who kidnaps a wife.
As a kshatriya Arjuna is supposed to kill such aggressors, it is required for a administrator to be saintly in behaviour but not cowardly, example of Lord Rama is given by Prabhupada, he was a ideal king and every one wanted to live in rama rajya , but he never forgave Ravana for his misconduct of kidnapping Sitadevi. But in Arjuna’s case the aggressors where his own family member hence it was a special case, due to his saintly nature he had thoughs of sins that he might commit by killing his own family members, taking all these pros and cons into consideration he considered not to fight to be a better option
Verses 1.39 – verses 1.43 : Destruction of Family tradition
These are the remaining verses in the Chapter 1, in these verses Arjuna describes the evil consequences of such a war where all the elderly personalities in the Kuru dynasty will be killed. As per Vedic etiquette elders of the family are never to be killed or even offered a verbal fight, since they guide the following generations in proper religions conduct. In absence of elders in the family the family traditions and the religious practices of sraddha will be stopped which will bring ruination to the future genearation, in absence of the elders the women of the family may intermingle freely which will lead to unwanted progency ( varna sankara) population which will create havoc and hellish life for all in the society. Considering the evil effects of killing his own kinsmen he did not think of fighting the war as a good idea and hence he sat on the chariot and kept his bow Gandiva down.
Verse 2.6 : In decision
This verse is explained in the second chapter and it decribes the indecision of Arujna on fighting the war. Since Drona and Bhisma where his spiritual master and grandfather respecitively and were very pious people. Arjuna has great respect and reverence for both of them and he was confused whether he should try to win over them or let them win over him in this condition as the later verses in Bhagvad Gita explain he surrendered to Krsna and accepted him as his spiritual master to instruct him on the right path.
Thus the First chapters sets the stage for Lord Krsna to speak the Bhagavad Gita to everyone through Arjuna. Our Acharyas explaing that since Arjuna was a pure devotee of the Lord, there is no chance that he could fall into any illusion, but only by Lord Krsna’s arrangement he was put into this illusion so that entire world can be benefited with the transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad Gita and make their lives perfect.
Venue : Schaumburg, IL
Lecture 1 on 02/19/2011 and Lecture 2 on 02/25/2011
Book : Bhagavad Gita As it is , by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Sawmi Prabhupada
Copyright : International Society for Krsna Consciouness ( ISKCON)
Introduction :
Bhagavad Gita is a widely read theistic science. Though this book is by far the most popular book, its true understanding is rare. Due to its intricate philosophy of life, often people tedn to interpret this text and conclude diffferent meanings from this book for their own selfish motives. Bhagavad Gita As it is is an attempt by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, to explain the real purport of Bhagavad Gita as it was meant to be, hence the book itself is tiltled as " Bhagavad Gita As it is "
Before embarking on study of this most important book, it is very essential to understand how Bhagavad Gita was understood by Arjuna, who heard it directly from Krsna. Krsna mentions in the Bhagavad Gita itself that why he had chosen Arjuna to be the first diciple to recieve this knowledge,
sa eväyaà mayä te 'dya
yogaù proktaù purätanaù
bhakto 'si me sakhä ceti
rahasyaà hy etad uttamam [ B.g. 4.3]
That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science.
So few important points before trying to understand Bhagavad Gita are
1. One must not be envious of The Supreme Personality of Godhead , Krsna , and he should be a friend to him.
2. One must know that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, For those who do not believe this or trust this statement , they must atleast believe it thereotically that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavad Gita will scientifically establish this truth.
3. One must try to understand these teachings with a surrendred spirit and not with a challenging spirit.
4. One must not interpret the teachings of Bhagavad Gita to suit one's purpose.
With these four things, when one listens to Bhagavad Gita As it is from a bonafide source who has studied Bhagavad Gita from a bonafide disciplic succession one can relish the message of Bhagavad Gita and make ones life successful.
Each Chapter of Bhagavad Gita has a specific theme and in our study we would be making an attempt to address these themes .
Chapter 1 of Bhagavad Gita Entitled " Observing the Armies on the Battle Field of Kurushetra is also called as " Arjuna Visahad Yoga" it has different sections as shown in the diagram above.
Section I :
Verse 1.1 - 1.27 provide an introduction to the battlefield of Kuruskhetra.
Subsection A : Preparation for War : Verses 1.1 – 1.11
This section Starts with the enquiry of Dhrtarastra to Sanjaya his secretary regarding the armies on the Battle field of Kurushestra and ends with Duryodhana’s description of the armies of Pandavas and Kuru’s.
Important points to remember from these verses are as follows :
1. Dhrtarastra’s addressing His sons and Kuru’s and separating out sons of Pandu for the family, reveals his mind to usurp the kingdom for himself
2. Significance of the holy place of pilgrimage called Kurukshetra referred here as dharma kshetra.
3. Dhrtarastra’s worry of the influence the holy place of pilgrimage called Kurukshetra will have on naturally pious Pandavas and the reverse influence on his own son Duryodhana.
4. Sanjaya’s prediciting the mind of Dhrtarastra and assuring him that the war will not be stopped.
5. Duryodana’s diplomatic address to Dronacharya in finding out his fault in training Dryatadhumyna in military art, although knowing that he will be killed by him. Braminical qualification of Dronacharaya of training Draystadhumna even though knowing that he will kill him .
6. Duryodhan’s description of Pandava’s strength and his making his commanders attentive.
7. Duryodhan’s encouragement to his soldiers by describing the strength of his army .
8. Duryodhana’s confidence of victoru based on Bhisma’s strength and his experience in fighting.
Subsection B : Signs of Victory of Pandavas ( verses 1.12 – 1.20 )
This section starts with blowing of conch shell by Bhismadeva and ends with the description of Krsna and Arjuna on a chariot with a flag marked with Hanuman. This section mainly gives description of the various signs of victory for Pandavas.
Points to remember
1. Bhishmadeva’s louldly blowing the conchshell to indicate to Duryodhana that it was impossible for him to win since Lord Krsna was on Pandava’s side, but still it was Bhismadeva’s duty to fight and hence there will not be any slackness in that
2. Duryodhana’s feeling joy on hearing Bhismadeva’s blowing of his conchshell loudly like a lion , thinking he would be victorious because of Bhismadeva.
3. Blowing of transcendental Conchshells by Krsna and Arjuna , indicating that they will be victorious . also word Madhava means husband of Goddess of fortune, wherever there is Krsna , Goddess of fortune resides there hence, victory and fortune were on Arjuna’s side. Also the chariot of Arjuna was donated by Agni deva , which can conquer all directions
4. Addressing Krsna as Hrishekesa means controller of the senses , as supersoul , all the senses of the living entities belong to Krsna and he directs the senses of the living entities from within with respect to the degree of surrender, but for a pure devotee he controls the senses completely. Blowing of different conchshells was encouraging to the soldiers on Pandavas’s side and hence another sign of victory.
5. Different conchshells were blown by different members of the Kuru dynasty , indicating all will be killed in the battlefield due to ill motives of Dhrtarastra.
6. Heart breaking on the side of Duryodhana after hearing the conchshells on Pandava’s side, due to their confidence in Lord Krsna.
7. Lord Krsna, seated on the chariot of Arjuna marked with a flag of Hanuman, indicating that as Hanuman assisted Lord Rama in victory over Ravana, he would do so here for Arjuna, with Lord Rama i.e Krsna himself being present on Arjuna’s side thus showing definite signs of Victory for pandavas
Subsection C : Krsna as Bhakta – Vatsala [ Verse 1.21 – verse 1.27]
This section describes Krsna’s nature as affectionate to his devotees.
Points to remember
1. Krsna addressed as Acyuta or infallible, since Krsna never fails in his affection for his devotee. For the sake of his pure devotee Arjuna , he had taken a role of a chariot driver, but his position as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not compromised in any situation. Arjuna was aware of Krsna’s position since his being a pure devotee and hence he addressed Krsna as Acyuta
2. Though Arjuna could not fall into illusion, because of his being a pure devotee and Krna’s friend, by the inspiration from the Krsna as a supersoul, Arjuna, wished to see the armies.
3. Krsna being the supersoul predicted Arjuna’s mind and asked him to look at the Kurus, especially Bhismadeva and Dronacarya so that he might fall into compassion and that illusion will set the ground for Krsna to recite the Bhagavad Gita for benefit of all.
Section II :
Verses 1.28- verse 1.46 in summary explain the five reasons which Arjuna gave for not fighting the battlefield
Verses 1.28 – 1.30 : Compassion
Arjuna felt compassion for the family members and all the soldiers from both sides who were going to fight in the battle of Kurushetra. Arjuna being a pure devotee of the Lord, though of it as unnecessary fight in order to acquire a kingdom , which will be tainted with blood of so many members of the Kuru dynasty. Due to his softheartedness owing to his being a pure devotee of the Lord, he was experiencing standing of hairs on his body. Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport that there are two situations when one experiences standing of hair on this body one is during spiritual ecstasy due to excessive joy and another situation is due to fear. In this case since Slipping of Arjuna’s famous Gandiva bow is mentioned it is understood that he was fearful and hence he was showing these symptoms. Such a situation happens due to material attachment.
Verses 1.31 – Verse 1.35 : Lack of Enjoyment
In these verses, Arjuna tells Krsna that if he were to kill all his relatives, than how is he going to enjoy the kingdom. Generally we want to win or acquire something with a hope of sharing and showing that to our friends and relatives in order to enjoy the victory. Arjuna’s Addressing Lord Krsna as Govinda which means one who gives pleasure to the senses is significant in this connection., by this Arjuna was indicating to Krsna that since he is Govinda, he should know what Arjuna is going through and hence he should not compel him to fight ,thus giving his senses pleasure, Srila Prabhupada explains here that Govinda is not meant for satistying our senses, but we are meant to satisfy Krsna’s senses and in turn our senses will also be satisfied once Krsna is satisfied and that is why Krsna is called Govinda. Genearlly everyone goes to Krsna to ask for facilities in order to satisfy his or her senses and they want Krsna to be their order supplier, but the constitutional position of a living entity is to satisfy Krsna’s senses and inturn the living entities senses will be completely satisfied, since we the living entities are infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme.
Verses 1.36 – 1.38 : Fear of Sinful Reactions
These three verses describes Arjuna’s saintly nature due to his being a devotee, he was aware of the sinful reaction of killing once family members and hence he argued with Krsna that he should not induce him to fight his family members, his addrerssing him as Madhava signifys that since Krsna was husband of Goddess of fortune, he should not ask Arjuna to act in a way which will bring him misfortune, but Krsna never brings misfortune to anyone, what to speak of his devotees. Prabhupada explains in the purport that as per Vedic wisdom there are 6 kinds of aggressors namely
1. poison giver, 2. one who sets fire to the house, 3. one who attacks with deadly weapons, 4. one who plunders riches, 5. one who occupies another’s land and 6. one who kidnaps a wife.
As a kshatriya Arjuna is supposed to kill such aggressors, it is required for a administrator to be saintly in behaviour but not cowardly, example of Lord Rama is given by Prabhupada, he was a ideal king and every one wanted to live in rama rajya , but he never forgave Ravana for his misconduct of kidnapping Sitadevi. But in Arjuna’s case the aggressors where his own family member hence it was a special case, due to his saintly nature he had thoughs of sins that he might commit by killing his own family members, taking all these pros and cons into consideration he considered not to fight to be a better option
Verses 1.39 – verses 1.43 : Destruction of Family tradition
These are the remaining verses in the Chapter 1, in these verses Arjuna describes the evil consequences of such a war where all the elderly personalities in the Kuru dynasty will be killed. As per Vedic etiquette elders of the family are never to be killed or even offered a verbal fight, since they guide the following generations in proper religions conduct. In absence of elders in the family the family traditions and the religious practices of sraddha will be stopped which will bring ruination to the future genearation, in absence of the elders the women of the family may intermingle freely which will lead to unwanted progency ( varna sankara) population which will create havoc and hellish life for all in the society. Considering the evil effects of killing his own kinsmen he did not think of fighting the war as a good idea and hence he sat on the chariot and kept his bow Gandiva down.
Verse 2.6 : In decision
This verse is explained in the second chapter and it decribes the indecision of Arujna on fighting the war. Since Drona and Bhisma where his spiritual master and grandfather respecitively and were very pious people. Arjuna has great respect and reverence for both of them and he was confused whether he should try to win over them or let them win over him in this condition as the later verses in Bhagvad Gita explain he surrendered to Krsna and accepted him as his spiritual master to instruct him on the right path.
Thus the First chapters sets the stage for Lord Krsna to speak the Bhagavad Gita to everyone through Arjuna. Our Acharyas explaing that since Arjuna was a pure devotee of the Lord, there is no chance that he could fall into any illusion, but only by Lord Krsna’s arrangement he was put into this illusion so that entire world can be benefited with the transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad Gita and make their lives perfect.
No comments:
Post a Comment