KUMARA
Vaisnava Sampradaya

Disciplic Succession to Kesava Kasmiri

1) LORD KRISHNA
2) Visnu
3) Hamsavatar
4) Sanaka Kumara
5) Nimbaditya (Founder of the Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya)
6) Srinivasa Acarya
7) Visva Acarya
8) Purusottama Acarya
9) Vilasa Acarya
10) Svarupa Acarya
11) Madhava Acarya
12) Balabhadra Acarya
13) Padma Acarya
14) Syama Acarya
15) Gopala Acarya
16) Kripa Acarya
17) Deva Acarya
18) Sundara Bhattacarya
19) Padmanabha Bhattacarya
20) Upendra Bhattacarya
21) Ramacandra Bhattacarya
22) Vamana Bhattacarya
23) Krishna Bhattacarya
24) Padmakara Bhattacarya
25) Sravana Bhattacarya
26) Bhuri Bhattacarya
27) Madhava Bhattacarya
28) Syama Bhattacarya
29) Gopal Bhattacarya
30) Balabhadra Bhattacarya
31) Gopinath Bhattacarya
32) Kesava Bhattacarya
33) Gangala Bhattacarya
34) Kesava Kasmiri

Kesava Kasmiri's commentary authorised by the auspices of disciplic succession.

Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary on Bhagavad-Gita

Invocation

OM

With my mind, with my words and with my head, I bow down to the Supreme Lord Krishna, the beloved of the Gopis who is completely independent, endowed with innumerable transcendental qualities such as omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence. Propitiator of the lotus born Brahma the architect of this material universe, bequeathing benedictions upon the devotees, the beloved of Laksmi, totally devoid of all blemishes and defects which are the qualities of illusion and whose eminence is to be known through Vedic scriptures.

Always paying homage to the Supreme Lord Krishna, the ultimate shelter of all living entites, who always bestows His causeless mercy upon those living entities surrendered to Him, a fathomless ocean of compassion, by whose grace the child Dhruva obtained rulership of the pole star Polaris, Ajamila and others were reprieved from hell and the mountain Giriraj Govardana is worshipable.

Continuously offering prayers to the venerable perceptors who properly instructed me on what is the Ultimate Truth, which is the sole basis of all the Vedic scriptures and also all later scriptures which fully adhere to sanatan dharma or eternal righteousness and which is the one reality united though different from the sentient and the insentient by the attributes of its own nature.

May Nimbaditya, the holy acarya be my final shelter, who is like the azadirachta indica or nimba tree which removes sickness, removing the sickness of materialism just as the sun removes the darkness and whose heart and mind becomes pleased in the worship of the Supreme Lord Krishna's lotus feet.

Bowing down to Sri Guru and to the previous acaryas, this commentary known as Tattva-Prakasika or The Illuminator of the Principles is being now given by me.

It is the omniscient, all knowing purpose of Purusottama, the topmost personality, the Supreme Lord Krishna who descended into the material existence although remaining beyond the influence of nescience and unaffected by any of the qualities of material nature such as sattva, rajas, etc. and their by products, as well as being uncontrolled by the six modifications of physical existence such as birth, infancy, youth, etc. Possessing an eternal form of consciousness and bliss, being a great reservoir of innumerable transcendental and auspicious attributes such as glorious, wonderful, phenomenal along with omniscence, omnipotence and omnipresence and innumerable transcendental and auspicious qualities such as mercy, compassion, magnanimity, sweetness, beauty, compassion, forgiveness and others.

The sovereign controller of all living entities, prakriti or the material substratum, kala or time and all manifestations. Attended on by eternally liberated spiritual beings such as Laksmi, Garuda and others. Whose greatness is far beyond the conceptions of Brahma, Indra and all the demigods and hence being worshippped by them all is appropriate to be known by the Vedas. He is the cause of the origin of all the worlds, who by His own transcendental nature dissolves all the distress of those who worship Him. In complete control and possession of all powers both spiritual and material who when beseeched and propitiated with prayers and homage by the demigods led by Brahma for lessening the extreme burden of the Earth which was overpowered by hosts of demon armies like Daityas and Danavas who descended to the Earth taking birth as kings in royal families although previously killed also as demons battling the demigods. In order to lessen this burden of the Earth, the Supreme Lord Krishna descended and manifested Himself in the Yadava dynasty.

But this was not His main purpose, for He is fully capable of lessening the burden of the Earth by any of His incarnations such as Varaha, Parasurama and others. As the Supreme Lord Krishna, the Ultimate Controller of All does not descend to the material worlds only to lessen the burden of the Earth, it is thus stated in Mahabharata that the Supreme Personality as if sporting orchestrates the movements of the Earth, the universes, the heavens and all the elementals. The Supreme Lord Krishna with but a fraction of His potency revolves day and night, the wheels of time, the universes and creation. He alone is the ultimate controller of all living entities movable and immovable, material existence as well as death.

Seeing that the living entities in the material existence had lost their way becoming bereft of divine devotion and that knowledge had become narrow through the over emphasis of scientific doctrines and philosophies which attempt to comprehend the Supreme Lords external energies exclusively in the terms of material conceptions hypothesising them as the primary cause of existence and thereby missing the essential fundamental truth of the ultimate spiritual reality. These philosophies were propounded by Kanada, Jaimini, Kapila Muni and others as well as in other texts composed by the followers of Hiranyagarbha, Pasupata, Saura, Ganapatya and others. The Supreme Lord incarnated as Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasadeva and refuted all these hypothesis in his Brahma Sutra which reveals the ultimate truth and the nature of the ultimate reality.

Further noticing the lack of propagation of spiritual knowledge and devotion to the Supreme Lord on the Earth which is full of demoniac rulers antagonistic to divinity, truth and righteousness and in order to insure the propagation of divinity, truth and righteousness as the panacea for all of humanity to cross over the ocean of endless and incessant rebirth in the material existence and become eternal spiritual beings free from the pangs of birth, old age, disease and death in His service in the spiritual worlds and in order to perform divine deeds that destroy the impurities of kali yuga and with His delightful sport of granting the vision of His beauteous form which is the treasursehold of all attributes like sweetness, lovlieness and bliss mixed with his transcendental words to fulfill the thristful longing of those who are only satisfied by seeing Him as the thirst of the Cataka bird is only satisfied by drinking the water that falls when it rains and under the seeming pretext of lessening the burden of the demoniac upon the Earth but being enchanted by the ardent devotion of Vasudeva and Devaki, the Supreme Lord Krishna endowed with all power, all majesty and all potencies descended from the spiritual worlds and manifested Himself as their son in His eternal transcendental form of consciousness and bliss.

The Supreme Lord Krishna reflecting on the nescience, greed and anger in this world decided that He would perform such extraordinary activities as to amaze and delight all the world who would hear about these pastimes. So He descended with this view that simply by being engaged in listening and remembering His divine pastimes and hearing about His glories the whole Earth would be redeemed Thereby benedicting both Vasudeva and Devaki by revealing His transcendental form and comforting words He ordered Himself to be taken to Nanda Maharaja's kingdom and there made him and his wife Yasoda and the cowherd boys and the gopis very happy as He exhibited His unlimited divine pastimes. There He nurtured their unconditional love for Him by protecting the cows, slaying various demons like Putana, Aghasura and Kesi, subduing the 100 headed serpent Kaliya, lifting the gigantic mountain Govardana, expanding Himself 1000's of times performing rasa lila. He effortlessly removed the pride of the four faced Brahma, He destroyed the arrogance of the thousand eyed Indra and He defeated the charms of the flowered love bow of Cupid. While sporting He terminated the demon King Kamsa and his servants and then relieved His parents, went to guru school and set the example of learning from a bonafide guru and serving him humbly, then duly executed His gurus request of bringing his dead son back to life. Thereafter He slayed the armies of the yavana demons 17 times and afterwards He transferred all the citizens from the city of Mathura to the ocean fortress of Dvaraka overnight while they slept. There He celebrated various astounding marriages such as the kidnapping of Rukmini, subduing seven tempestuous bulls and the rescuing and marrying 16, 108 princesses after slaying Narakasura. In order to show devotion to His dynasty, the Yadavas and to the sons of His father Vasudeva' sister known as the five Pandavas, He saw to it that the demons Paundraka, Jarasandha, Sisupala, Salva and others were terminated as they were the very embodiment of burden to the Earth and obstacles to devotion.

In order to further remove the remaining burden of the Earth, the Supreme Lord used the evilness of Duryodhana and the Kauravas as the instruments to instigate war against the five Pandavas who fought on the side of righteousness in the Battle of Kuruksetra. In this battle lasting 18 days at Arjunas request the Supreme Lord Krishna did deign to be his chariot driver; but by the Lords desire at the last minute Arjuna sat down on the chariot completely overcome by grief and made the decision to become a renunciate and refrain from battle due to feelings of compassion and fraternity. Thinking that he would be guilty of the sin of fratricide and the evils of destruction of the dynasty he helplessly dropped his bow and quiver of arrows and forlornly lamented his despair.

The Supreme Lord Krishna out of compassion for all those who follow the path of righteousness used Arjuna's dilemna as the reason to reveal again the eternal wisdom of Bhagavad-Gita which is the quintessence of the Vedic scriptures and the foundation of all eternal spiritual principles. It deals with the three paths of yoga by actions, yoga by knowledge and yoga by devotion. That it is bonafide is proven by Arjunas words at the end of the Bhagavad-Gita where he affirms that his delusion has been dispelled and that by the Supreme Lords grace he has become self-realized without any doubts ready to follow the instructions of the Lord as they have been given in Bhagavad-Gita.

The holy scripture Bhagavad-Gita is composed in 745 verses in the Bhishma Parva of Mahabharata compiled by the divvine incarnation Krsna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa, who appeared as the son of Parasara, who was the grandson of Vasisitha. The dimensions of the Bhagavad-Gitas are thus: the Supreme Lord Krishna spoke 620 of these verses in answer to the 57 verses spoken by Arjuna. Sanjaya spoke 67 verses and Dhritarastra spoke one verse.

The Bhagavada-Gita reveals the ultimate proof by irrefutable evidence that the remedy for all misery in this world is nothing else other than accurate true knowledge of the nature, attributes and qualities of the soul. The self-realized living entities who discover this cross over the fathomless material ocean of birth and death.

The consciousness of the living entity is 2-fold comprised of the individual consciousness and the Ultimate Consciousness. The individual consciousness which is under the control of the living entity is designated by terms like the individual soul, the embodied soul, the controller of the body, the knower of the physical body, of the nature of knowledge, the substratum of qualities, always dependent upon the Supreme Lord for its nature, condition and actions; sub-atomic, inherent within everything, capable of experiencing bondage and liberation. The cause of bondage being association with pradhana or material nature composed of the three components of sattva or goodness, rajas or passion and tamas or ignorance as well as prakriti the material substratum and maya the illusory energy which transforms into the physical body, mind and senses.

The Ultimate Consciousness is not under the control of the living entities and should be understood as being directly one with the Supreme Lord Krishna. It is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent and by nature the Ultimate Truth, the Ultimate knowledge, infinite, the Ultimate self within all, the controller of prakriti the material substratum, maya the external illusory energy, kala or time and karma or reactions to actions. Devoid of anything imperfect, worthy of propitiation by all living entities, self manifested, independent, perfection personified, the Ultimate Reality, the Ultimate Personality, the Supreme Lord Krishna who is also known in an impersonal way as brahman, parabrahman, paramatma as well as in a personal way with qualities and personality as Hari, Purusottama, Visnu and Narayana can only be attained by rendering 100% unadulterated loving devotional service to Him.

The Bhagavad-Gita consists of 18 chapters divided into three sections each with the first six chapters on karma yoga the yoga of actions, the second six chapters on bhakti yoga the yoga of devotion and the final six chapters on jnana yoga the yoga of knowledge. It is universally regarded by all scholars as an authoritative scripture because it presents the fundamental principles of spiritual existence applicable to all living entities irregardless of cultural, secular or ecclesiastic distinction.

Thus it is stated in the Varaha Purana:

All glory to the Supreme Lord Krishna who while performing His pastime as chariot driver presented pure ambrosial nectar in the form of His instructions of Bhagavad-Gita for the benefit of all worlds.

A living entity who wishes to cross over the endless cycle of birth and death and escape the ocean of the material existence ascends into the lifeboat of Bhagavad-Gita and by its knowledge crosses over it easily. But a living entity who has missed the oppurtunity, having not heard or learnt about the eternal wisdom of Bhagavad-Gita has factually no chance of crossing over the material existence and attaining the spiritual world or even the heavenly worlds. Those fortunate living entities who base their life on the wisdom of Bhagavad-Gita studying this sacred scripture daily should verily be known and recognised as demigods.

Fie upon their physical body! Fie upon their education! Fie upon their position in society! Fie upon their nobility! What value have these to one who has no knowledge of the spiritual wisdom revealed in Bhagavad-Gita? There is no person poorer in regard to their own existence in all of existence than one who has no knowledge of the spiritual wisdom of Bhagavad-Gita. All living entities should understand without any doubt, that any knowledge which is proclaimed as spiritual reality which is not to be found in the 18 chapters of Bhagavad-Gita are the deceptions of demons and are devoid of righteousness, devoid of truth and censured by the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures. Therefore it should be understood that the Bhagavad-Gita is righteousness itself presenting the entire scope of spiritual knowledge for the benefit of everyone. Thus by this it excels all.

Because of its excellence many, many spiritual leaders have tried to explain this sacred scripture according to the line of their own personal perspective views and opinions; but because they are not from a bonafide disciplic succession all their explanations are not authoritative and are faulty being contrary to the Vedic scriptures.

But according to the written words given by Krsna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa in the Bhavishya Purana, Nimbaditya is spoken of as all knowing among the ancient acaryas, his statements being never contrary to the Vedic scriptures and this aphorism should be accepted by all seekers of the Ultimate Truth. The instructions in Bhagavad-Gita being extremely profound in meaning are meant for those living entities who have qualified themselves by deep investigation into the nature of the eternal soul. Yet for the spiritually unintelligent having no facility for comprehending these matters; but still seeking to understand the essence of Bhagavad-Gita and attain salvation even without fully qualifying themselves; for their benefit in order to facilitate their understanding in a minimal amount of time, I am writing according to my capacity by the power of solely meditating on Nimbaditya's lotus feet, this quintessence commentary on Bhagavad-Gita which will be very easy to understand called Tattva Prakasika or The Illuminator of the Principles received by Nimbadityas grace and based on the principles established by him. May the Supreme Lord Krishna be pleased with this commentary.

Thus ends the introduction to the commentary of Srimad Bhagavad-Gita
by Kesava Kasmiri.


KUMARA
VAISNAVA SAMPRADAYA

Nimbaditya : Founding Acarya

Nimbaditya's authority verified by Vedic scripture:

In the GARGA SAMHITA it is written:

vamanas ca vidih sesah sanako visnu-vakyatah
dharmartha-hetave caite bhavisyanti dvijah kalau

visnusvami vamnangsa-statha madhvastu brahmanah
ramanujastu sesanga nimbaditya sanakasya ca

ete kalau yuge bhavyah sampradaya-pravartakah
samvatsare vikramasya catvarah ksiti-pavanah

sampradaya-vihina ye mantraste nisphalah smritah
tasmacca gamanang hyasti sampradaye narairapi

TRANSLATION

Vamana, Brahma, Ananta Sesha and Sanaka Kumara will appear as brahmanas by the order of Visnu, for the preservation of eternal righteousness in kali yuga.

Visnu Swami, Madhvacarya, Ramanuja and Nimbaditya will appear respectively as a portion of Vamana, Brahma, Ananta Sesha and Sanaka Kumara.

These saviours will be the establishers of the four authorised and empowered spiritual channels of disciplic succession in the period calculated from the reign of King Vikrama in 54 B.C. subsequently through the present era of kali yuga.

These four authorised and empowered spiritual channels of disciplic succession are to be fully accepted by all beings; as any word, combination of words or formulation of sounds frequencies, invoked or addressed, audible or inaudible, secret or revealed, ancient or contemporary, outside their auspices prove to have absolutely no efficacy.

Garga Samhita, Canto 10, chapter 61, verses 23, 24, 25, 26

sampradaya: authorised and empowered spiritual channel of disciplic succession

vikramasya: the solar year calculated from 54 B.C., the reign of King Vikrama and subsequently through the present and onwards into the future.

mantraste: any word, combination of words or formulation of sound frequencies, audible or inaudible, secret or revealed, ancient or contemporary used to invoke or address the Supreme Lord.