Chapter 4Approaching the Ultimate TruthVerse 9

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Anvaya

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Commentaries of the Four Authorized Vaisnava Sampradayas

as confirmed in the Garga Samhita Canto 10, Chapter 61, Verses 23, 24, 25, 26
Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Visnuswami

Sridhara Swami's Commentary

The result of realising Lord Krishna's divine appearances and phenomenal exploits is being given by Him now. One who has truly realised that Lord Krishna's manifestations is due only to His sweet will and are for the protection of eternal righteous and beneficial to all living beings by this realisation becomes no more attached to their gross and subtle body is not subject to rebirth and is eligible to attain the blessed eternal spiritual realms in bliss with Him.

Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Madhvacarya

Madhvacarya's Commentary

For the purpose of showing that moksa or complete liberation from the cycle of birth and death is only possible through complete knowledge of His essence and not by partial knowledge does Lord Krishna speak thus. The complete knowledge is by the knowledge of the Vedic scriptures. That is the way Lord Krishna must be adored. In the Kurma Purana it is stated that: who lives their life following the principles advised in the Vedic scriptures and adores Him accordingly, to those does the Supreme Lord reveal Himself and not to others. So it is clarified that only proceeding in this manner is salvation and liberation achieved and not by any other method digressing from the Vedic scriptures and this is irrevocable. The adjective tattvatah signifies that the entire scope of knowledge is essential. Regarding it thus this is not contradictory. In the Skanda Purana it has been stated that a human being will not be knowledgeable by understanding a single principle without first knowing the entirety of the principles and even Shiva is not capable of doing so, therefore one should diligently endeavour to be aware of all the principles.

Now begins the summation.

Only by learning and comprehending the knowledge revealed in the Vedic scriptures is moksa or liberation possible. By knowing and furthermore correlating this knowledge from different Vedic texts and applying it to one's everyday life will the ultimate attainment be gained and no other way. It should be clearly understood that the mere knowledge of the facts and details of the Supreme Lords appearance and divine pastimes will not enable one to attain liberation from the material existence without having first applied this learning through the medium of the Vedic scriptures fully into one's life and all that one's life encompasses.

Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Ramanuja

Ramanuja's Commentary

Whosoever is able to verily realise the divine, spiritual and uniquely phenomenal nature of the Supreme Lord Krishna's incarnations and transcendental pastimes which are exclusively manifested for the benefit of all those who take refuge in Him solely and which are intended for the protection of the righteous who understand the real tattva or truth concerning His appearances. The word divyam in this verse meaning divine confirms that Lord Krishna appearance is not the same as the compulsory births of the conditioned embodied entities as a consequent reaction to their past life activities arising from their timeless interaction with prakriti or material nature. So in conclusion whoever understands that all avatars or incarnations emanate from Lord Krishna who is eternally possessed with all glorious qualities and wonderful attributes, such a person is not subject to rebirth once they leave their present body, but attains the eternal spiritual abode with the Supreme Lord. Put more succinctly such a person possessing accurate discriminative knowledge from disciplic succession regarding Lord Krishna's incarnations and divine pastimes becomes free from all sins which stand in the way of coming to Him. Such a person in there present birth will attain Him by placing implicit reliance and full faith in Him in the manner described in previous verses and by making Him the be all and end all of their lives makes themselves extremely dear to the Lord which qualifies their existence for attaining Him. Next will be described the superb godly qualities of the these saintly persons.

Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Nimbaditya

Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary

Here Lord Krishna speaks of the merits one acquires who knows the true nature of His divine appearances as sac-cid-ananda or eternity, knowledge and bliss and also knows the divine nature of his lila's or phenomenal pastimes which he accomplishes by his internal potency without any touch of material nature. One who has realised the truth of His reality does not take rebirth again being freed from their gross physical body as well as their subtle body which is the cause of having to accept a gross body and having qualified themselves for liberation are eligible to come to the eternal spiritual realms of Lord Krishna which is the ultimate reality and revels in bliss with Him.

Thus ends commentaries of chapter 4, verse 9 of the Srimad Bhagavad-Gita.

Verse 9


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