By Kesava Krsna Dasa
There is a standard way by which most devotees learn the precepts of the Bhagavad-Gita through our colleges and seminars. We memorise some important verses and understand how Lord Krishna weaved His way through various systems of thought and deed, gradually rising up to full surrender. In addition, Srila Prabhupada’s purports help to comprehend what could otherwise be any layman’s claim to tainted truth, as the number of false editions of Bhagavad-Gita show.
But whatever the accepted standard, the words of Lord Krishna cannot be subjected to any finality, or blanket communal understanding. The ever-fresh realisations that accrue from reading and studying this sacred dialogue, attest to the truth that the Lord’s words have no limit. Indeed, some commentaries of Bhagavad-Gita, written by our previous acaryas, displayed traits of rasika thoughts suitable to their inner fulfilment.
In comparison with these commentaries, which Srila Prabhupada was aware of, some people will perhaps wonder why Srila Prabhupada did not do likewise. Or are they correct in making this assumption? The sometimes overly keen objective to experiment with matters lofty and reserved, will take Srila Prabhupada’s extremely careful and gradual approach to spiritual life as a beginners guide for novices, and not much more. To arouse the innate raga-spontaneity is to increase ones eligibility by moving on.
Srila Prabhupada himself said that the tenets of the Bhagavad-Gita precede those of the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Chaitanya Charitamrta, but we would be naïve to suppose that Lord Krishna’s words in Bhagavad-Gita are made redundant in terms of spiritual progress. To relegate the importance of the Bhagavad-Gita, and Srila Prabhupada’s rendition, As It Is, is to miss the essence of the Lord’s teachings, which have the versatility of His unlimited will.
A limited gratitude for the merits of Bhagavad-Gita will presume: “When Krishna speaks on the battlefield of Kuruksetra to the materialistic person it appears that this is simply talk between two friends, but actually it is a river of nectar flowing down from the mouth of Sri Krishna. (NOD chapter 10) Added to this, the Bhagavad-Gita can induce transcendental bliss, or relishing the mellow: “This joyous life is attained by one’s reaction to reading Bhagavad-Gita or Srimad Bhagavatam”. (NOD chapter 20)
Clearly, there is much, much more to the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is than meets our dualistic perceptions, and an increased dosage of surrender, plus the “yasya deve para bhaktir” factor, and sincere chanting will all combine to enhance the required state of consciousness to appreciate this scripture. After all, to relish spiritual bliss while reading Bhagavad-Gita is to possess higher awareness, preferably if the mood is spontaneous. So, does Srila Prabhupada encourage his followers to rise to higher realms of devotion in the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is?
Srila Prabhupada’s English usage.
Srila Prabhupada does not belabour his readers with much Sanskrit technical jargon or parlance. After familiarising ourselves with his way of writing, a certain skill in extrapolating deeper meanings from key words help to define his real intentions. For instance, if someone is on the lookout for his use of the words ‘raganuga’, or ‘ragatmika’ as evidence for leading us in a higher direction, will be slightly disappointed to learn he did not frequently use these terms.
He did however, more commonly use words like spontaneous, spontaneously, perpetually, always, constantly, twenty four hours a day, attachment, and so on, if when placed in the right context, roughly share the same definition. Key words such as these can pinpoint deeper than surface meanings, and accurately reveal the benefit from his explanations.
Protection of the BG 9.34 verse.
As many will know, this verse is located right in the heart of Bhagavad-Gita. “The first six and the last six chapters are like coverings for the middle six chapters, which are especially protected by the Lord”. (BG 8, 28 purport) How significant this verse is can be found in a most telling statement: “This is the most important instruction in all Vedic literature. What Krishna is saying in this connection is the most essential part of knowledge”. (BG 18.64 purport)
If this verse is so highly regarded, should we expect to read an out-of-reach purport by Srila Prabhupada that causes our cerebral matter to swim? Probably, but Srila Prabhupada is an extremely responsible vaisnava author, for he resists any temptation to flaunt his inner joy, and instead does some protection work, in consideration of the times we live in, and the plentiful spurious editions of Bhagavad-Gita on the market.
Before commencing on his Nectar Of Devotion: “Srila Rupa Goswami prays to his spiritual master, Srila Sanatana Goswami for the protection of Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhu ‘The Ocean of the pure nectar of devotional service’ from the argumentative logicians who unnecessarily meddle in the science of service to the Lord”. (NOD introduction)
In the BG 9.34 purport, we see some kind loving guidance and protection for the readers, and even for the verse itself, from the unauthorised laymen who claim to understand Lord Krishna’s words by writing false editions of Bhagavad-Gita. Just as Bhisma and Bhima were generals who protected their armies, Srila Prabhupada is the foretold general who is performing his duty perfectly well.
Bhagavad-Gita 18.65.
We should know that some other Bhagavad-Gita verses already allude to spontaneous devotion. BG 12.8: “Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me, without a doubt”, is Krishna’s preferential mode of worship, failing which, we should engage in regulative Bhakti. Then we have verses where ‘constant’ devotion continues ‘always’ or ‘perpetually’, as in verses BG 9.14, 10.9 and 10.10. And BG 9.13 describes a genuine Mahatma living under Yoga-Maya.
Since BG 18.65 is a repeat of BG 9.34, should we expect more highbrow rasika revelations in the purport to this verse? By identifying the essential key words, we can understand what is meant when becoming a ‘pure’ devotee who is ‘always’ thinking of Krishna, and should act ‘twenty four hours a day’, so that one can do nothing but think of Krishna, makes it quite clear. Then he says that such a ‘pure’ devotee will see Krishna ‘face to face’. Only a devotee situated in Bhava-Bhakti or beyond can have this type of darshana. This is hardly novice fare.
The confidential trio: BG 18.64, 65, and 66.
In SB 2.4.16, we find these three verses spoken together in a charming, less formal and disarming way. “My dear Arjuna, you are very dear to Me, and therefore only for your good I will disclose the most secret part of My instructions. It is simply this: become a pure devotee of Mine and give yourself unto Me only, and I promise you full spiritual existence, by which you may gain the eternal right of transcendental loving service unto Me. Just give up all other ways of religiosity and exclusively surrender unto Me and believe that I will protect you from your sinful acts, and I shall deliver you. Do not worry any more”.
When Lord Krishna says to surrender unto Him in verse BG 18.66, rather than this being the final stop, it is really to help make it easier for us to practice the essence as found in the “man-manah…” verse. To substantiate this, we find “…but one who fully surrenders unto the Lord to render service unto Him, out of spontaneous love for Him, factually assimilates the essence of all knowledge described in the Vedas. One who adopts this method very skilfully attains perfection of life at once”. (SB 2.4.16 purport)
That Srila Prabhupada used the word ‘spontaneous’ in relation to the essence of the Bhagavad-Gita, should leave little room for doubting of his keen wish to see his followers become spontaneous pure devotees. This is to demonstrate that his teachings given through every medium are bursting with the aim to raise us to this point and beyond. His very life itself was a demonstration of this high ideal.
Some other examples.
The “man-manah…” verse is so versatile that Srila Prabhupada quoted it to illustrate both basic and advanced levels of devotion. But in the right places at the right times, when the consciousness of the readers has risen, we observe more overt references to raga-bhakti in relation to Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.
If we take for instance this statement from SB 5.1.38, we find this: “Our hearts are meant for the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that one should be fully Krishna conscious; thinking of Krishna, as He Himself advises man-mana-bhava-mad-bhakto, mad yaji mam namaskuru (BG18.65)”. Clearly, to have a pure heart able to witness the ongoing pastimes of the Lord, live as they unfold, is the stuff of Prema-Bhakti, yet this verse fits quite comfortably up there.
In the Teachings Of Lord Chaitanya chapter 11, also in relation to the “man-manah…” verse, we find this: “Such a direct instruction is more important than any Vedic instruction or even regulative principle”. In this way, just a few examples exemplify the preferred meanings of the essence of Lord Krishna’s words, which should comfort the sceptics to know that following Srila Prabhupada means to be under his expert care, guidance, and protection, from our first stumbling steps of devotion, through to the higher realms.
Capturing the essence.
If out of many who follow this path of devotion only a few will succeed in this lifetime, the difference will be in who can skilfully capture the essence of the spiritual masters teachings and intentions, and apply them in life. This essence soars way above surface measurements afforded by our comparative egos, and simplifies the resolve to just be a surrendered servant of the vaisnavas.
These are big words coming from an equally big ego that I possess, who writes like a ‘pure’ devotee with the authority of an airtight ‘can-do-no-wrong’ assurance, but I too, hope to be poised to ascend the devotional heights. This hope is the causeless grace of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga, without which, all my spiritual attempts are so much verbiage and plain ordinary endeavour.
The answer to the question, does Bhagavad-Gita lead us to Raga-Bhakti, will be found in those fortunate few whose skill enables them to actually spiritually relish the Bhagavad-Gita, and whose gentle lives are living emblems of the essence of the Vedas. “This essence is not understood by a common man, but by one who is actually very dear to Krishna, a pure devotee of Krishna”. (BG 18.64 purport)
Ys, Kesava Krsna dasa – GRS
I really admire this article as an invitation to discuss Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita commentary directly. The idea of using this blog format as a kind of worldwide electronic Gita class is truly exciting.
I do not have much to say about the article itself, because I have to admit that even after all these years I do not have a very clear idea of what “raga-bhakti” is, or vaidhi bhakti, or any bhakti for that matter. But since I love to talk and Prabhupada encouraged us to talk about his books among faithful devotees I can’t resist the urge to jump right in.
In NOD, Prabhupada writes about “raganuga” as one of the two divisions of sadhana bhakti. “Bhakti” itself is divided into sadhana, bhava and prema. Sadhana (devotional service in practice) is divided into vaidhi (devotional service under regulation) and raganuga (spontaneous devotional service).
The idea I get is that in vaidhi bhakti one has to do certain things (and avoid doing certain other things) whether one likes it or not, but in raganuga bhakti one really develops a strong attachment for those same practices, so it becomes “spontaneous” in that sense. One’s practice of bhakti is no longer something done by force under the order of the guru, but what one really wants to do and loves to do.
I am sure there is a lot more to be said about raga-bhakti by those who know. I would love to hear more about it, and to someday understand it thoroughly through real experience, even though I am still attached to material “enjoyment”. :-(
I like Kesava Krishna’s conclusion. It seems that when Krishna says over and over about how He is explaining these things to Arjuna because Arjuna is such a very dear friend, that very statement drips with raga bhakti (and bhava and prema bhakti). Arjuna has that very strong spontaneous relationship with Krishna: he even apologizes (in the 11th Chapter) for having treated Krishna informally, joking with Him and sitting on the same bed as a friend, not remembering His unique position as the Supreme Godhead, the Absolute Truth and source of everything.
I do not know Sanskrt (maybe this is a question for our scholars like Gopiparanadhana Prabhu), but when Arjuna says “sthane hrsikesa tava prakirtya jagat prahrsaty anurajyate ca” (11.36), is the word “anurajyate” related to “anuraaga”? Srila Prabhupada translates it as “is becoming attached”, so it seems to fit: i.e., spontaneous attachment = raaga. But why is it “rajyate” not “raajyate”?
When I first started distributing Gitas in the 70s, most of the non-Indian people I met who had even heard of Bhagavad Gita did not even know that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
I remember some Self Realization Fellowship (Paramahamsa Yogananda) people in Canada arguing that Krishna was only one of many “enlightened masters”, like Jesus and others, who came to understand God through their spiritual practices.
This seemed to parallel the famous misconception that when Krishna says “think of Me”, “surrender to Me”, He is not referring to His personality as Krishna but to some unborn spiritual God-essence within His body, as if His body is material and different from Him the way our bodies are different from us.
But Krishna says one should understand how His appearance and activities are “divya.” He says that the unintelligent think that He is the “unmanifest” who has assumed a form. He says He is the source of everything, material or spiritual, and He is the basis of brahman. The universal form He displays for Arjuna in Chapter 11 is not His original, beautiful spiritual form, which is only perceived by unalloyed bhaktas.
Making these and other points, Srila Prabhupada’s “Bhagavad Gita As It Is” seems to have pretty handily smashed all the Mayavadi misconceptions. I find that most people in the west who know something about the Gita now pretty readily accept that Krishna Himself is the unlimited Godhead who has appeared on earth by His atma maya and is playing as if He were a human being. This is pretty remarkable, when you think about it, because generally unless one is favored by a Vaisnava one cannot begin to understand these things, and even big yogis and Hindu philosophers, misled by Mayavada theories, continue to get it exactly wrong.
So, Prabhupada’s “Bhagavad Gita As It Is” had some more important groundwork to lay, some persistent misunderstandings to deal with, and it has been a “smashing” success. It will continue to “smash” the impersonalist and atheistic preconceptions of those who, due to latent enviousness of Krishna, are not really supposed to be candidates for understanding the science of Yoga as taught by Krishna to Arjuna.
Then, with those demonic ideas smashed, they can go on to study Nectar of Devotion and Bhagavat and Caitanya Caritamrta and further enrich their appreciation of Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna in the Gita, which put all Vedic knowledge into proper perspective.
I would approach this issue very simply. Prabhupada presented Bhagavad Gita as it is, from the point of view of Krishna, the Bhagavat. He did it with full references to Bhagavata philosophy, since he himself was perfect bhagavata and was writing it as part of his Bhaktivedanta presentation of Bhagavatam, and this book is clearly meant for approaching raga-bhakti platform. It was NOT meant for jump-starting anyone to the raga-bhakti stage, not has it overemphasized saddhya over sadhana, its mature. In fact exactly because it was done without false push and at the same time in the steady direction and with the full referencing to prayojana, it is clearly raga-marga book that can be relished by both sadhakas and siddhas, there could be a problem of appreciating this aspect of it by a colloquial villagers, who have hard time reading in English, but then again this book was written in English, for people who read in English, ie it is presenting raga-marga to the educated mass of people. One have to be mistaken about the holistic nature of bhakti to assume that just because word gopi is not mention on every page, it is not a raga-marga book. Nor is it stressing confidential or hidden aspects without due respect to the direct meaning. If I may say so, its raga-marga without pretense, the real one, not the ‘i-think-iam-very-very-raga’ type. The complete dedication to Krishna is the real meaning of Vrindavana, thus one may talk about Radha’s love, but some may actually act in such a love and through dedication to ones guru who is in the same mood,( BSST was too without a desire of self-advertisement), so the second approach is certainly a more mature or a superior position to the first one – one may call it an arm-chair-raganuga,- Bhagavad Gita as It Is is a practical raganuga or raga-marga in action.
Hare Krishna, thank you for your wonderful article.
There is one verse that comes to mind in regards to the acharya revealing inner thoughts. This verse is:
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 10.9
mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā
bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaś ca māḿ nityaḿ
tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca
SYNONYMS
mat-cittāḥ — their minds fully engaged in Me; mat-gata-prāṇāḥ — their lives devoted to Me; bodhayantaḥ — preaching; parasparam — among themselves; kathayantaḥ — talking; ca — also; mām — about Me; nityam — perpetually; tuṣyanti — become pleased; ca — also; ramanti — enjoy transcendental bliss; ca — also.
TRANSLATION
The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.
Both Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur and Baladeva Vidyabhusana translate this verse in this general way:
“WIth minds greedy for me, being completely dependent upon me, mutually hearing about me, and singing about me, they continuously experience satisfaction and enjoyment.”
Please note that this first and sweet part of the verse “The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me,” This appears to be in that category of special nectar that is revealed by the Acharya from their inner realizations. This may be attributed to additional ‘Ca’ in the verse, as is the circumstance of other verses with rasik purports by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur, but that is just my spectulation.
Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,
Nityananda Chandra Das
I mean to say “Please note that this first and sweet part of the verse “The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me,” …. is not included in the other translations but rather only found in Srila Prabhpada’s translation. “
Caitanya Candrodaya writes:
“If I may say so, its raga-marga without pretense, the real one, not the ‘i-think-iam-very-very-raga’ type. The complete dedication to Krishna is the real meaning of Vrindavana, thus one may talk about Radha’s love, but some may actually act in such a love and through dedication to ones guru who is in the same mood,( BSST was too without a desire of self-advertisement), so the second approach is certainly a more mature or a superior position to the first one – one may call it an arm-chair-raganuga,- Bhagavad Gita as It Is is a practical raganuga or raga-marga in action. ”
This is a very good point. And thanks to Kesava Krishna for raising the issue.
The phrase “arm-chair raganuga” is appropriate, describing those who may want to lick the outside of the bottle by discussing all the esoteric topics and appreciating only intellectually, without actually dedicating themselves to pleasing the bona fide guru (which is the only authentic path to *experience* raga bhakti).
Srila Prabhupada was careful to instruct us not to try to jump ahead beyond our qualification, or (God forbid) jump over him, thinking impatiently he was not discussing confidential topics.
There are many qualified devotees in ISKCON now who are conversant with the books left by the Six Goswamis and subsequent acaryas. No one has to go outside of ISKCON to find such expertise.
But if someone is thinking, “I am bored hearing about how the soul is different from the body, how it is entrapped by the three modes, how it can get out, how Krishna accomplishes the creation and destruction of the universe without engaging in reactionary work, and how devotees may also appear to work while being transcendentally situated” . . . if someone thinks, “I know all this already, it is not stimulating, it is boring, hackneyed”, then there is something wrong with that person’s appreciation of Krishna consciousness.
I have actually met such (insane) people, who say Bhagavad Gita is “boring” and therefore they want to hear “higher things.” In Bhagavad Gita Krishna reveals Himself, His divine qualities and His relationship with devotees. It makes Sanjaya’s hair stand on end, and it should make ours do so, too.
Now, Radharani tells Krishna, “Don’t preach to me about fixing my mind on you. I can’t stop thinking of you and it is killing me.”
But most of the world can’t think of Krishna, and that is (really, literally) killing us, in samsara.