The Four Principle Verses of Srimad Bhagavad-Gita
by
Srila Bhakti
Raksaka Sridhara Goswami Maharaja
The four
principle verses of Srimad Bhagavad-Gita are in chapter 10 verses 8,
9, 10, 11. The ontological substance of the entire book is contained
within these four essential verses beginning
in verse 8 with Lord Krishna declaring
aham sarvasya prabhavo meaning: Everything emanates from Me.
In the Srimad Bhagavatam verse I.II.XI beginning
vadanti tat tattva vidas the three
absolute conceptions of the Supreme Lord Krishna are given as
Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. Brahman
is the all comprehensive aspect of the supreme absolute.
Paramatma is the all permeating aspect of the supreme absolute
and Bhagavan is the personal manifestation of the supreme absolute.
We find the defintion of Bhagavan
in the Vishnu Purana VI:V:XXXXVII beginning
aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah
defines: Bhagavan the Supreme Lord Krishna is
inseparably replete with the six sublime
qualities of complete wealth, complete power,
complete fame, complete beauty, complete knowledge and
complete renunciation.
The characteristic
of Bhagavan in the form of Lord Krishna's expansion of Narayana
the Lord of Vaikuntha in the celestial spiritual worlds
is that all potencies are personally
controlled by Him. However Srila Jiva Goswami has revealed a special
and particularly fine interpretation by revealing that
Bhagavan means bhajaniya guna visista
meaning: Whoever comes into contact with
Lord Krishna cannot resist serving Him. No one can resist feeling moved
to worship and adore His charming form and captivating personality as
He attracts the love of all. Therefore the word
sarvasya meaning of all causes denotes that Lord Krishna is factually
Svayam Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord Himself,
the originator of all. His statment
mattah sarvam pravartate indicates that
all efforts and every endeavour originates from Him including the methods
by which everyone worships and propitiates Him in devotion. The Katha
Upanisad I.II.XXIII beginning nayam atma pravacanena states:
The Supreme Lord cannot be realised by erudite logic, superior intelligence
or penetrating study of the Vedic scriptures.
The Supreme Lord reveals Himself personally to the
atma the immortal soul of the
jiva or embodied being who having become enthused to engage in
loving devotional service unto Him, humbly
prays to be a recipient of His causeless mercy. In this way the Supreme
Lord is the first to reveal Himself to the public as how to worship
Himself by appearing as the guru
the spiritual master and through Him instruct others on how to worship
Himself. Lord Krishna explains in Srimad Bhagavatam: Canto, chapter
17, verse 27 beginning acaryam mam vijaniyan
states: One should understand that the bonafide
guru is verily an expansion of the Supreme Lord and should never
be dishonoured. The inherent nature of the
guru represents everything that is divine and thus he should
never be envied or disrespected by ascribing mundane conceptions
of time, place and circumstances upon Him.
The most
rare and elevated stage of devotion is the line of spontaneous devotion
known as raga marga. In that line guided by the qualified guru
an elevated pure devotee may gradually advance to render service to
a group leader of one of Lord Krishna's personal associates who serve
Him in sakhya rasa which is friendship, in
vatsalya rasa which is parental or in
madurya rasa which is consorthood. In
the eternal spiritual worlds of Goloka Vrindavan the Supreme Lord Krishna
is being served in spontaneous loving devotion by His friends in
sakhya rasa such as Sridham and Subal. In
vatsalya rasa by Nanda Baba and Yasoda
Ma and in madhurya rasa by the gopis such as Lalita and Vishaka.
The words
mac-citta mad-gatta-prana in verse 9 mean:
Lord Krishna is the core of His devotees hearts, in their every thought.
Their entire energy, their whole life is dedicated to the satisfaction
of the Supreme Lord Krishna. In private
His devotees enjoy conversing about the Supreme Lord to mutually enlighten
one another of His glories. In public
His devotees love to preach the Supreme Lord's glories
and nothing else. At all times, in all places, in every situation they
are enlivened by topics concerning the Supreme Lord. The words
tusyanti ca means they become gratified. Up unto the divine interaction
of vatsalya rasa or parental relationship with the Supreme Lord
there is a feeling of satisfaction. The words
ramanti ca denote that just as a wife feels great satisfaction
in conjugal relationship with her husband the devotees feel
similar ecstasy when discussing intimate pastimes about the Supreme
Lord. This conception has also been
verified by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti, Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana
and Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura.
In verse
10 Lord Krishna reveals that the highest group of servitors who were
described in the previous verse by the word
ramanti indicating the highest enjoyment are those who are
satata yuktanam or always engaged in loving devotion to
Him. Then He reveals that He will personally bestow the spiritual illumination
by which they will be able to assuredly come to Him. The Supreme Lord
Krishna's relationship with His devotees is independent of everything
conceivable. It is beyond rules, laws, society, even scriptures. It
is fully innate and natural and does not require any approval or sanction.
One may show formal respect to the norms and restrictions of society
but in their heart of hearts they are totally surrendered to the Supreme
Lord. This is the special dispensation Lord Krishna bequeaths to His
devotees. Externally there are ordinances and injunctions that must
be followed but the position of the Supreme Lord is transcendental them
all. The Vedic scriptures are His instructions for the masses who have
deviated from Him and society is also under the jurisdiction of the
Vedic scriptures. But the Supreme Lord's divine, transcendental relationships
with His devotees is intrinsic and independent, not requiring recognition
from anyone and this is the highest. It supersedes all laws and rules.
Like signposts the Vedic scriptures are all pointing in the direction
of the Supreme Lord Krishna. In this direction He is available; but
where and how is unknown.
The general
interpretation for verse 11 is always given that Lord Krishna situated
in the hearts of all living entities dispels the darkness of ignorance
with the radiance of knowledge out of compassion for His devotees. But
if we appreciate pure uncalculated devotion then this verse may appear
redundant and inconsistent. When the highest devotees are already
committed to performing continuous unadulterated devotional service
and above even that they are situated on
the plane of pure love which is spontaneous and
unmotivated. How can it be harmonised that the Supreme Lord will now
in the last stage destroy their non-existing ignorance which arises
from misunderstanding by giving them
jnana or knowledge? Jnana
is only a cover, a futile, finite conception of the infinite absolute.
When these highest devotees have already achieved devotion devoid of
the covering of knowledge why will they again have to return to this
jnana. In this regard the great preceptor
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti has commented that this
jnana is vilaksanam or extraordinary; but he did not
put forth any specific details. To clarify this point we have given
the following explanation. Lamentation and suffering are generally known
to be symptoms of tama guna
the mode of ignorance. Yet in jnana-sunya the elevated devotees
who see Lord Krishna not as the Supreme Lord; but
see Him intimately as their friend, son, husband or paramour will come
to experience lamentation and suffering; but this is only an external
appearance of ignorance. In reality it is the pain of
vipralambha or divine separation. So they
will lament: Where has Krishna gone? When will He return? Why has he
left us? Etc.
Lord Krishna's
states tesam evanukampartham
which usually means: Certainly to favour them I dispel the darkness
of ignorance; but it may also be interpreted as: Being
conquered by their love I aspire for the
favour of these elevated devotees by
atma-bhavah-stah appearing in the soul within their hearts and
revealing bhasvata jnana dipena the
extraordinary illumination of My dazzling divine presence which
nasayami destroys all ignorance. Another great preceptor Srila
Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami has determined a similar internal meaning
when he concluded: Through devotion everyone wants the Supreme Lord
to help them attain the highest position of eternal benefit and if they
have a connection with Lord Krishna they consider themselves. But Lord
Krishna considers Himself fortunate when He comes in contact with the
invaluable affection that He is offered from His surrendered devotee's
hearts. Although Lord Krishna is the
absolute controller of all existence and the paramount
Supreme Lord of all creation; He is so
sublimely wonderful that He feels it is His great, good fortune to experience
the association of His loving devotees. So in this light it can be understood
that Lord Krishna stating tesam evanukampartham
can be understood as: Conquered by the love of My devotees, when I can
no longer tolerate the pain of their separation, I at once show Myself
to satisfy them and I reveal to them with
jnana dipena the extraordinary illumination of
transcendental consciousness. Sweetly I tell them
that I have returned to you, I am here. With the powerful
brilliance of jnana dipena's
dazzling illumination I show them my presence when they are very much
in need of me and relieve their pain of
vipralambha. The Supreme Lord Krishna reveals Himself in the
form that is in accordance with the mood His devotees are
individually situated in. In sakhya rasa
it is as a friend to a friend, in vatsalya rasa
it is as a child to His parents, in madhurya rasa
it is as the beloved to the beloved or as a husband to a wife. Such
extraordinary illumination is transcendental and
beyond even the superlative jnana
of topics found within the Vedas that we are accustomed to hearing and
learning about.
The acme
of theism is found in madhurya rasa and it is called
parakiya-rasa. Parakiya means another's.
Rasa means divine mood in relationship. In every
rasa Lord Krishna attracts everyone. Throughout the whole spiritual
world of Goloka Vrindavan where everyone is eternally feeling the
rasa of love for Lord Krishna, this
parikiya rasa is infused. In
sakhya rasa Krishna's friends sometimes hear
stories that He is not really a gopa
or cowherd boy and that really he is the son of
a king from the ksatriya or royal warrior class and that He cannot
remain as their friend because soon
He will be leaving to join His parents. His friends worry that they
can lose Krishna's company at any time. They think that without Him
how will they ever be able to go daily to the forest tending the cows?
They experience such apprehensions and this increases their feelings
of loving friendship towards Him. Similarly
Yasoda Ma and Nanda Baba hear rumours
that some say Krishna is not really their son but the son of King Vasudeva
and Queen Devaki in Mathura. They both
reject this idea as foolishness, that it
cannot be and they refuse to accept the possibility of it. They
both think Krishna is our child. We raised Him right from birth. How
can anyone think otherwise? But in the back of their mind they reflect
that if it is somehow true they could lose Him. They
ponder how could they live without Him? So such
contrary feelings greatly enhance their love for Krishna. Therefore
parikiya-rasa stresses the rarity of relationship with Krishna
due to the apprehension of possibly losing Him
and this is always in the background and
is most evident in the highest intensity of devotion to Lord Krishna
in madhurya rasa.
In
Vaikuntha, the eternal spiritual worlds where Lord Krishna's
expansion of Narayana rules majestically, the nature of worship there
is grandiose, opulent, reverential and awe-inspiring. But above
Vaikuntha in Goloka Vrindavan
which is the highest conception of divinity, the fountainhead of all
incarnations and expansions, Lord Krishna performs His
eternal divine pastimes in the spiritual form of a human being as an
ever youthful, cowherd boy bedecked with peacock feather, playing upon
a flute. His beauty is so sublimely charming and sweet that all creation
is inundated from just an atom of it and all living entities are drawn
irresistibly to Him.
The Supreme
Lord Krishna is approachable by all His creation. We can find the Supreme
Lord Krishna very near residing within our hearts as
paramatma the Supreme Soul. It has been explained by the previous
acarya's or spiritual preceptors
of our parampara or disciplic succession in the Brahma Madhva
Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya, how the nature of Lord Krishna's human
form is the highest manifestation of the ultimate reality, the supreme
absolute truth according to the calculation of
rasa which is the common standard
of measurement for the whole scope of the infinite. By the progressive
development of rasas ascending
from santa rasa or neutraliy to
dasya rasa or servotorship to
sakhya rasa or friendship to
vatsalya rasa or parental affection and
madhurya rasa as the beloved; this is scientifically proven without
whimsical speculation or blind faith.
If we follow the line of rupanuga bhajana
devotion in the mood of Srila Rupa Goswami which originates from Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu; then this scientific basis can be appreciated.
The previous acaryas have left this
for us, step by step, how we can follow, conceive and attain all these
things.
Bhakti Raksaka Sridhar Goswmi
Sri Caitanya Saraswati GaudiyaMath
Brahma Madhva
Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya