Bhaktine Sylvie: Thinking of the next coming of the Gitajayanti, I remember and meditate on a personal misadventure about the Bhagavad-Gita, some years ago. A well-known rumor, often used to challenge devotees, pretends that one cannot find the words “Krishna says” in the Gita: “Bhagavan uvacca” but not “Krishna says”.
When it happened to be said by a very good friend of mine, an Indian one which words I used to trust: “you pretend to read the Gita, but do you know that…”, this time I decided to go deeper in the matter. I have to check it by myself. I took my Gita and began to read, just to prove that the rumor was wrong. Then pages after pages, “Bhagavan uvacca”, “Bhagavan uvacca”, and I became more and more astonished, if possible. Then arrived the last pages – and no “Krishna says”. I must have missed something, there is no other explanation! So I took my Gita another time and try again. Even if I am not able to read Sanskrit, I continued my enquiry by comparing the Devanagari letters with the transcription. I also look for some help in approaching devotees, who tried to explain that Bhagavan is Krishna or Krishna is Bhagavan, I do not remember precisely. Therefore, with the absolute and naïve faith of a neophyte, I was so sure that the answer MUST be in the Gita itself, not in some less or more sophisticated explanation. O my God, the Gita..! It must be Krishna, it IS Krishna, the very words of Krishna! So I return to my Gita another time with a so deep curiosity that the answer happened to jump at my face from where, blind as I was, I have not checked at all. It was so obvious, many thanks to Arjuna, the so intimate friend of Krishna! The rumor is not lying, but as strong as a testimonial in front of the Court the evidence of Krishna is there, in the answers of Arjuna to Bhagavan: “O Krishna, you say that …” In my hurry, during my first attempts to find those words “Krishna says”, I had only read half of the Gita, the sole words of Bhagavan… First, I laughed at myself – and since that time, I have often meditated on the so many lessons I have learned from this misadventure.
Respectfully,
Bhaktine Sylvie