The essential qualification to understand the Gītā
The Gītā can't be understood without a particular qualification. This crucial qualification is the result of a personal choice, and that's a decision no one else can take for us.
« The Song of God: An in-depth study of the Bhagavad-gītā (Volume 1)
It may sound strange to start a book with the conclusions of the text, but in the case of the Bhagavad-gītā, this is extremely useful. Different from an ordinary novel, the verses of the Gita bring us a very intricate philosophy and can't be understood without the right qualifications.
Sanskrit verses can be translated, and difficult philosophical passages can be explained, but there is one crucial qualification to understanding the Bhagavad-gītā that can't be taught. This crucial qualification is the result of a personal choice, and that's a decision no one else can take for us.
This essential qualification is revealed by Krsna in the 9th chapter, where He says to Arjuna:
idam tu te guhya-tamam/ pravakṣyāmy anasūyave
jñānam vijñāna-sahitam/ yaj jñātvā mokṣyase ’śubhāt
"My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence."
The mystery of the Bhagavad-gītā can't be understood by someone envious of Krsna. Often in this world, we envy and belittle powerful people, and frequently not without reason since powerful people such as politicians often misuse their influence and cause harm to others. The Bhagavad-gītā, however, explains that Krsna is not a despotic ruler. He is the source of everything that exists and the most intimate friend. He is all-powerful and prepared to help us in every aspect, but at the same time, He respects our free will and remains hidden from our vision until we desire to find Him.
As Prabhupada explains in his introduction, every living being has a particular relationship with the Lord eternally, called svarūpa. In the language of the Bhagavad-gītā, "eternal" means something that is always existing, without a beginning and an end. Certainly, nothing in this material world can be called eternal in this sense, since everything here has a beginning and an end, and thus eternal things can exist only in the spiritual platform, where there is no past and future, but just a blissful eternal present.
This svarūpa is thus our true selves, outside of the temporality of this material world. Somehow it was forgotten, and the process of bhakti, devotional service, or Krsna Consciousness is the process that can revive this transcendental svarūpa. This ultimate stage of perfection is called svarūpa-siddhi, the perfection of our constitutional position.
There are five main relationships with Krsna, which ramify in unlimited varieties. One can relate to Krsna in a passive state, aware of His greatness but without a propensity to directly interact with Him, one can serve Him from a subordinate position, one can relate to Him as a friend, from an equal position, one can relate to Him as a parent, or one can relate to Him as a conjugal lover, like in the case of the Gopis, the ultimate example of pure love.
Arjuna, for example, is the eternal friend of Krsna. At the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā, he became confused due to the difficult situation he was in, but by approaching Krsna and receiving instructions from Him, he was able to surpass this lamentation and become situated in perfect knowledge. We are in the same position Arjuna was put in at the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā: immersed in lamentation and confused about what to do and not to do, and just like Krsna dissipated the illusion of Arjuna by explaining to him the Bhagavad-gītā, He is ready to do the same for us. The same knowledge revealed to Arjuna five thousand years ago is available to all of us, and Krsna is personally present in our hearts, ready to guide us, just like He guided Arjuna in the treacherous and unforgiving battlefield of Kurukṣetra.
This transcendental knowledge offered in the Bhagavad-gītā is compared to a sword that can cut the knots of ignorance and illusion that bind us to this temporary world and elevate us to the transcendental platform, bringing us freedom.
Krsna offers equal chances for everyone to live happily and gradually reconnect with their original spiritual nature, achieving ultimate happiness. Not only does He try to guide us through books such as the Bhagavad-gītā, but He is present in the heart of everyone as the Supersoul. He is thus the closest and most intimate friend and He is always with us, although we may not notice His presence due to our fixation in the external world.
The root of the word yoga is the Sanskrit "yuj", which means to join or to unite. Yoga means the union between us, the individual self, and Krsna, the Supreme Self. According to Srila Madhvācārya, there are three types of union: 1) to become one in opinion or mentality, 2) to achieve similarity, and 3) to be in the same locality. When we say "as human beings, we are one," it doesn't mean we are the same person, but that we share the same characteristics, we are similar, and share a common identity. Similarly, achieving yoga, or unity with the Supreme does not mean to merge into Him and lose our individuality, but to become one in nature.
What is the nature of Krsna? He is described as sat-cit-ananda, full of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. In our current situation, we are more or less the opposite. Instead of sat, cit, and ananda, we are asat (mortal), acit (lacking in terms of knowledge), and nirananda (susceptible to misery and lamentation). The Bhagavad-gītā however reveals this is not our real nature. Originally we are eternal souls, who are full of knowledge and spiritual bliss, just like Krsna. However, due to our identification of the material body, we identify with the qualities of the body, and this leads us to an abnormal condition where we have to face loss, death, bewilderment, lamentation, and misery. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Krsna guides us back to our original condition, as blissful souls. To accept this guidance, however, we need to trust his instructions, and this is not possible if we are envious of Him.
As Srila Prabhupada explains in his introduction: "Therefore Bhagavad-gītā should be taken up in a spirit of devotion. One should not think that he is equal to Kṛṣṇa, nor should he think that Kṛṣṇa is an ordinary personality or even a very great personality. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So according to the statements of Bhagavad-gītā or the statements of Arjuna, the person who is trying to understand the Bhagavad-gītā, we should at least theoretically accept Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and with that submissive spirit, we can understand the Bhagavad-gītā. Unless one reads the Bhagavad-gītā in a submissive spirit, it is very difficult to understand Bhagavad-gītā, because it is a great mystery."
To dispel all doubts about this, Srila Prabhupada composed a masterful piece for the introduction of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. This introduction was recorded in two parts on the 19th and 20th of February 1966, during a weekend. It was recorded in a donated dictaphone in the first room he rented in New York, room 307 of 100 West 72nd Street. The deepness of the text and the fact it was recorded in just two takes in the form of a lecture, spoken from memory, highlights Prabhupada's extraordinary scholarship and profound spiritual insight.
In this introduction, he delivers a powerful set of conclusions from the Vedic literature, conclusions that are clear in the original texts when one knows what to look for, but that have baffled scholars for centuries. The text of his introduction may look simple when we first read it, but the deeper we dive, the more details we can find.
Here I try to systematize the main conclusions of the text, organized in a series of points and individually explained with the addition of information given later in the book. My idea in this introduction is to help you go deeper into the text and better understand the deepness of his presentation. If after studying these points you try to read the introduction of Srila Prabhupada again, you will probably notice many points you missed the first time.
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