Chapter 2. Contents of
the Gita Summarized
TEXT 2
sri-bhagavan uvaca
kutas tva kasmalam idam
visame samupasthitam
anarya-justam asvargyam
akirti-karam arjuna
SYNONYMS
sri-bhagavan
uvaca--the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; kutah--wherefrom;
tva--unto
you; kasmalam--dirtiness; idam--this lamentation;
visame--in
this hour of crisis; samupasthitam--arrived; anarya--persons
who do not know the value of life; justam--practiced by; asvargyam--that
which does not lead to higher planets; akirti--infamy; karam--the
cause of; arjuna--O Arjuna.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme
Person [Bhagavan] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come
upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive
values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy.
PURPORT
Krsna and the
Supreme Personality of Godhead are identical. Therefore Lord Krsna is referred
to as "Bhagavan" throughout the Gita. Bhagavan is the ultimate in
the Absolute Truth. Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding,
namely Brahman or the impersonal all-pervasive spirit; Paramatma, or the
localized aspect of the Supreme within the heart of all living entities;
and Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna. In the
Srimad-Bhagavatam
this conception of the Absolute Truth is explained thus:
vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate
"The Absolute
Truth is realized in three phases of understanding by the knower of the
Absolute Truth, and all of them are identical. Such phases of the Absolute
Truth are expressed as Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan." (Bhag.
1.2.11) These three divine aspects can be explained by the example of the
sun, which also has three different aspects, namely the sunshine, the sun's
surface and the sun planet itself. One who studies the sunshine only is
the preliminary student. One who understands the sun's surface is further
advanced. And one who can enter into the sun planet is the highest. Ordinary
students who are satisfied by simply understanding the sunshine--its universal
pervasiveness and the glaring effulgence of its impersonal nature--may
be compared to those who can realize only the Brahman feature of the Absolute
Truth. The student who has advanced still further can know the sun disc,
which is compared to knowledge of the Paramatma feature of the Absolute
Truth. And the student who can enter into the heart of the sun planet is
compared to those who realize the personal features of the Supreme Absolute
Truth. Therefore, the bhaktas, or the transcendentalists who have
realized the Bhagavan feature of the Absolute Truth, are the topmost transcendentalists,
although all students who are engaged in the study of the Absolute Truth
are engaged in the same subject matter. The sunshine, the sun disc and
the inner affairs of the sun planet cannot be separated from one another,
and yet the students of the three different phases are not in the same
category.
The Sanskrit
word bhagavan is explained by the great authority, Parasara Muni,
the father of Vyasadeva. The Supreme Personality who possesses all riches,
all strength, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation
is called Bhagavan. There are many persons who are very rich, very powerful,
very beautiful, very famous, very learned, and very much detached, but
no one can claim that he possesses all riches, all strength, etc., entirely.
Only Krsna can claim this because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
No living entity, including Brahma, Lord Siva, or Narayana, can possess
opulences as fully as Krsna. Therefore it is concluded in the Brahma-samhita
by Lord Brahma himself that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
No one is equal to or above Him. He is the primeval Lord, or Bhagavan,
known as Govinda, and He is the supreme cause of all causes.
isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam
"There are
many personalities possessing the qualities of Bhagavan, but Krsna is the
supreme because none can excel Him. He is the Supreme Person, and His body
is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. He is the primeval Lord Govinda
and the cause of all causes." (Brahma-samhita 5.1)
In the Bhagavatam
also there is a list of many incarnations of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, but Krsna is described as the original Personality of Godhead,
from whom many, many incarnations and Personalities of Godhead expand:
ete camsa-kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam
indrari-vyakulam lokam mrdayanti yuge yuge
"All the
lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted herewith are either plenary
expansions or parts of the plenary expansions of the Supreme Godhead, but
Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself." (Bhag. 1.3.28)
Therefore,
Krsna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth,
the source of both the Supersoul and the impersonal Brahman.
In the presence
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Arjuna's lamentation for his kinsmen
is certainly unbecoming, and therefore Krsna expressed His surprise with
the word kutas, "wherefrom." Such unmanly sentiments were never
expected from a person belonging to the civilized class of men known as
Aryans. The word Aryan is applicable to persons who know the value
of life and have a civilization based on spiritual realization. Persons
who are led by the material conception of life do not know that the aim
of life is realization of the Absolute Truth, Visnu, or Bhagavan, and they
are captivated by the external features of the material world, and therefore
they do not know what liberation is. Persons who have no knowledge of liberation
from material bondage are called non-Aryans. Although Arjuna was a ksatriya,
he was deviating from his prescribed duties by declining to fight. This
act of cowardice is described as befitting the non-Aryans. Such deviation
from duty does not help one in the progress of spiritual life, nor does
it even give one the opportunity to become famous in this world. Lord Krsna
did not approve of the so-called compassion of Arjuna for his kinsmen.
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