View source for Arjuna (BG ch. 1 - 9)

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[[Category:arjuna|1]]
[[Category:Compilations from Books]]
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" class="section" sec_index="0" parent="compilation" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is"><h2>Bhagavad-gita As It Is</h2>
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<div id="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" text="BG Preface and Introduction"><h3>BG Preface and Introduction</h3>
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<div id="BGPreface_0" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="2" link="BG Preface" link_text="BG Preface">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Preface|BG Preface]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">To interpret Bhagavad-gītā without any reference to the will of Kṛṣṇa is the greatest offense. In order to save oneself from this offense, one has to understand the Lord as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as He was directly understood by Arjuna, Lord Kṛṣṇa's first disciple. Such understanding of Bhagavad-gītā is really profitable and authorized for the welfare of human society in fulfilling the mission of life.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_1" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Here the Lord informs Arjuna that this system of yoga, the Bhagavad-gītā, was first spoken to the sun-god, and the sun-god explained it to Manu, and Manu explained it to Ikṣvāku, and in that way, by disciplic succession, one speaker after another, this yoga system has been coming down. But in the course of time it has become lost. Consequently the Lord has to speak it again, this time to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_2" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">He tells Arjuna that He is relating this supreme secret to him because Arjuna is His devotee and His friend. The purport of this is that Bhagavad-gītā is a treatise which is especially meant for the devotee of the Lord. There are three classes of transcendentalists, namely the jñānī, the yogī and the bhakta, or the impersonalist, the meditator and the devotee. Here the Lord clearly tells Arjuna that He is making him the first receiver of a new paramparā (disciplic succession) because the old succession was broken.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_3" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">It was the Lord's wish, therefore, to establish another paramparā in the same line of thought that was coming down from the sun-god to others, and it was His wish that His teaching be distributed anew by Arjuna. He wanted Arjuna to become the authority in understanding the Bhagavad-gītā. So we see that Bhagavad-gītā is instructed to Arjuna especially because Arjuna was a devotee of the Lord, a direct student of Kṛṣṇa, and His intimate friend. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is best understood by a person who has qualities similar to Arjuna's. That is to say he must be a devotee in a direct relationship with the Lord. As soon as one becomes a devotee of the Lord, he also has a direct relationship with the Lord.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_4" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna was in a relationship with the Lord as friend. Of course there is a gulf of difference between this friendship and the friendship found in the material world. This is transcendental friendship, which cannot be had by everyone. Of course everyone has a particular relationship with the Lord, and that relationship is evoked by the perfection of devotional service. But in the present status of our life, not only have we forgotten the Supreme Lord, but we have forgotten our eternal relationship with the Lord. Every living being, out of the many, many billions and trillions of living beings, has a particular relationship with the Lord eternally. That is called svarūpa. By the process of devotional service, one can revive that svarūpa, and that stage is called svarūpa-siddhi—perfection of one's constitutional position. So Arjuna was a devotee, and he was in touch with the Supreme Lord in friendship.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_5" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">By the process of devotional service, one can revive that svarūpa, and that stage is called svarūpa-siddhi—perfection of one's constitutional position. So Arjuna was a devotee, and he was in touch with the Supreme Lord in friendship. How Arjuna accepted this Bhagavad-gītā should be noted.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_6" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">"Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa confirm this truth about You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me. O Kṛṣṇa, I totally accept as truth all that You have told me. Neither the demigods nor the demons, O Lord, can understand Your personality."</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_7" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">After hearing Bhagavad-gītā from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as paraṁ brahma, the Supreme Brahman. Every living being is Brahman, but the supreme living being, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the Supreme Brahman. Paraṁ dhāma means that He is the supreme rest or abode of everything; pavitram means that He is pure, untainted by material contamination; puruṣam means that He is the supreme enjoyer; śāśvatam, original; divyam, transcendental; ādi-devam, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; ajam, the unborn; and vibhum, the greatest.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_8" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Now one may think that because Kṛṣṇa was the friend of Arjuna, Arjuna was telling Him all this by way of flattery, but Arjuna, just to drive out this kind of doubt from the minds of the readers of Bhagavad-gītā, substantiates these praises in the next verse when he says that Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead not only by himself but by authorities like Nārada, Asita, Devala and Vyāsadeva.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_9" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">These are great personalities who distribute the Vedic knowledge as it is accepted by all ācāryas. Therefore Arjuna tells Kṛṣṇa that he accepts whatever He says to be completely perfect. Sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye: "I accept everything You say to be true." Arjuna also says that the personality of the Lord is very difficult to understand and that He cannot be known even by the great demigods. This means that the Lord cannot even be known by personalities greater than human beings.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_10" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore Bhagavad-gītā should be taken up in a spirit of devotion. One should not think that he is equal to Kṛṣṇa, nor should he think that Kṛṣṇa is an ordinary personality or even a very great personality. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So according to the statements of Bhagavad-gītā or the statements of Arjuna, the person who is trying to understand the Bhagavad-gītā, we should at least theoretically accept Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and with that submissive spirit we can understand the Bhagavad-gītā. Unless one reads the Bhagavad-gītā in a submissive spirit, it is very difficult to understand Bhagavad-gītā, because it is a great mystery.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_11" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Just what is the Bhagavad-gītā? The purpose of Bhagavad-gītā is to deliver mankind from the nescience of material existence. Every man is in difficulty in so many ways, as Arjuna also was in difficulty in having to fight the Battle of Kurukṣetra. Arjuna surrendered unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and consequently this Bhagavad-gītā was spoken. Not only Arjuna, but every one of us is full of anxieties because of this material existence. Our very existence is in the atmosphere of nonexistence. Actually we are not meant to be threatened by nonexistence. Our existence is eternal. But somehow or other we are put into asat. Asat refers to that which does not exist.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_12" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Every activity of the human being is to be considered a failure unless he inquires about the nature of the Absolute. Therefore those who begin to question why they are suffering or where they came from and where they shall go after death are proper students for understanding Bhagavad-gītā. The sincere student should also have a firm respect for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a student was Arjuna.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_13" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Kṛṣṇa descends specifically to reestablish the real purpose of life when man forgets that purpose. Even then, out of many, many human beings who awaken, there may be one who actually enters the spirit of understanding his position, and for him this Bhagavad-gītā is spoken. Actually we are all swallowed by the tigress of nescience, but the Lord is very merciful upon living entities, especially human beings. To this end He spoke the Bhagavad-gītā, making His friend Arjuna His student.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_14" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Being an associate of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna was above all ignorance, but Arjuna was put into ignorance on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra just to question Lord Kṛṣṇa about the problems of life so that the Lord could explain them for the benefit of future generations of human beings and chalk out the plan of life. Then man could act accordingly and perfect the mission of human life.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_15" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">When we are materially contaminated, we are called conditioned. False consciousness is exhibited under the impression that I am a product of material nature. This is called false ego. One who is absorbed in the thought of bodily conceptions cannot understand his situation. Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to liberate one from the bodily conception of life, and Arjuna put himself in this position in order to receive this information from the Lord. One must become free from the bodily conception of life; that is the preliminary activity for the transcendentalist.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_16" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">All the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā are intended to awaken this pure consciousness, and therefore we find at the last stage of the Gītā's instructions that Kṛṣṇa is asking Arjuna whether he is now in purified consciousness. Purified consciousness means acting in accordance with the instructions of the Lord. This is the whole sum and substance of purified consciousness. Consciousness is already there because we are part and parcel of the Lord, but for us there is the affinity of being affected by the inferior modes.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_17" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">We have to receive knowledge from the proper source in disciplic succession beginning with the supreme spiritual master, the Lord Himself, and handed down to a succession of spiritual masters. Arjuna, the student who took lessons from Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, accepts everything that He says without contradicting Him. One is not allowed to accept one portion of Bhagavad-gītā and not another. No. We must accept Bhagavad-gītā without interpretation, without deletion and without our own whimsical participation in the matter.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_18" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">There are many examples given of how we are to utilize those things which are set aside for us by the Lord. This is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā. In the beginning, Arjuna decided that he should not fight in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. This was his own decision. Arjuna told the Lord that it was not possible for him to enjoy the kingdom after killing his own kinsmen. This decision was based on the body because he was thinking that the body was himself and that his bodily relations or expansions were his brothers, nephews, brothers-in-law, grandfathers and so on. Therefore he wanted to satisfy his bodily demands. Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by the Lord just to change this view, and at the end Arjuna decides to fight under the directions of the Lord when he says, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava ([[Vanisource:BG 18.73 (1972)|BG 18.73]]): "I shall act according to Your word."</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_19" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">This must be believed firmly. We should not reject that which does not tally with our imagination; our attitude should be that of Arjuna: "I believe everything that You have said." Therefore when the Lord says that at the time of death whoever thinks of Him as Brahman or Paramātmā or as the Personality of Godhead certainly enters into the spiritual sky, there is no doubt about it. There is no question of disbelieving it.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_20" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">"Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Kṛṣṇa and at the same time continue your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt." ([[Vanisource:BG 8.7 (1972)|BG 8.7]])</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_21" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">He does not advise Arjuna simply to remember Him and give up his occupation. No, the Lord never suggests anything impractical. In this material world, in order to maintain the body one has to work. Human society is divided, according to work, into four divisions of social order—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_22" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The Lord therefore tells Arjuna that he need not give up his occupation, but while he is engaged in his occupation he should remember Kṛṣṇa (mām anusmara ([[Vanisource:BG 8.7 (1972)|BG 8.7]])). If he doesn't practice remembering Kṛṣṇa while he is struggling for existence, then it will not be possible for him to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. Lord Caitanya also advises this. He says, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ: ([[Vanisource:CC Adi 17.31|CC Adi 17.31]]) one should practice chanting the names of the Lord always. The names of the Lord and the Lord are nondifferent. So Lord Kṛṣṇa's instructions to Arjuna to "remember Me" and Lord Caitanya's injunction to "always chant the names of Lord Kṛṣṇa" are the same instruction.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_23" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">A strong sense of love is required here. If we have a strong sense of love for the Supreme Lord, then we can discharge our duty and at the same time remember Him. But we have to develop that sense of love. Arjuna, for instance, was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa; he was the constant companion of Kṛṣṇa, and at the same time he was a warrior. Kṛṣṇa did not advise him to give up fighting and go to the forest to meditate. When Lord Kṛṣṇa delineates the yoga system to Arjuna, Arjuna says that the practice of this system is not possible for him.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_24" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">"Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady." ([[Vanisource:BG 6.33 (1972)|BG 6.33]])</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_25" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So one who thinks of the Supreme Lord always is the greatest yogī, the supermost jñānī, and the greatest devotee at the same time. The Lord further tells Arjuna that as a kṣatriya he cannot give up his fighting, but if Arjuna fights remembering Kṛṣṇa, then he will be able to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. But one must be completely surrendered in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_26" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">"He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Arjuna, is sure to reach Me." ([[Vanisource:BG 8.8 (1972)|BG 8.8]])</p>
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<div id="BGIntroduction_27" class="quote" parent="BG_Preface_and_Introduction" book="BG" index="3" link="BG Introduction" link_text="BG Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG (1972) Introduction|BG Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">"This Gītopaniṣad, Bhagavad-gītā, the essence of all the Upaniṣads, is just like a cow, and Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is famous as a cowherd boy, is milking this cow. Arjuna is just like a calf, and learned scholars and pure devotees are to drink the nectarean milk of Bhagavad-gītā." (Gītā-māhātmya 6)</p>
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<div id="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" text="BG Chapters 1 - 6"><h3>BG Chapters 1 - 6</h3>
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<div id="BG11_0" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="1" link="BG 1.1" link_text="BG 1.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.1 (1972)|BG 1.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The example of clear understanding is there in the Bhagavad-gītā itself, in the way the teaching is understood by Arjuna, who heard the Gītā directly from the Lord. If someone is fortunate enough to understand Bhagavad-gītā in that line of disciplic succession, without motivated interpretation, then he surpasses all studies of Vedic wisdom, and all scriptures of the world.</p>
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<div id="BG11_1" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="1" link="BG 1.1" link_text="BG 1.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.1 (1972)|BG 1.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Because the battle was arranged to be fought at Kurukṣetra, which is mentioned elsewhere in the Vedas as a place of worship—even for the denizens of heaven—Dhṛtarāṣṭra became very fearful about the influence of the holy place on the outcome of the battle. He knew very well that this would influence Arjuna and the sons of Pāṇḍu favorably, because by nature they were all virtuous. Sañjaya was a student of Vyāsa, and therefore, by the mercy of Vyāsa, Sañjaya was able to envision the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra even while he was in the room of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. And so, Dhṛtarāṣṭra asked him about the situation on the battlefield.</p>
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<div id="BG13_2" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="3" link="BG 1.3" link_text="BG 1.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.3 (1972)|BG 1.3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Duryodhana, a great diplomat, wanted to point out the defects of Droṇācārya, the great brāhmaṇa commander in chief. Droṇācārya had some political quarrel with King Drupada, the father of Draupadī, who was Arjuna's wife. As a result of this quarrel, Drupada performed a great sacrifice, by which he received the benediction of having a son who would be able to kill Droṇācārya. Droṇācārya knew this perfectly well, and yet as a liberal brāhmaṇa he did not hesitate to impart all his military secrets when the son of Drupada, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, was entrusted to him for military education.</p>
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<div id="BG13_3" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="3" link="BG 1.3" link_text="BG 1.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.3 (1972)|BG 1.3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Duryodhana pointed out this mistake of Droṇācārya's so that he might be alert and uncompromising in the fighting. By this he wanted to point out also that he should not be similarly lenient in battle against the Pāṇḍavas, who were also Droṇācārya's affectionate students. Arjuna, especially, was his most affectionate and brilliant student. Duryodhana also warned that such leniency in the fight would lead to defeat.</p>
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<div id="BG14_4" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="4" link="BG 1.4" link_text="BG 1.4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.4 (1972)|BG 1.4, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Here in this army are many heroic bowmen equal in fighting to Bhīma and Arjuna: great fighters like Yuyudhāna, Virāṭa and Drupada.</p>
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</div>
<div id="BG14_5" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="4" link="BG 1.4" link_text="BG 1.4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.4 (1972)|BG 1.4, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Even though Dhṛṣṭadyumna was not a very important obstacle in the face of Droṇācārya's very great power in the military art, there were many others who were causes of fear. They are mentioned by Duryodhana as great stumbling blocks on the path of victory because each and every one of them was as formidable as Bhīma and Arjuna. He knew the strength of Bhīma and Arjuna, and thus he compared the others with them.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG18_6" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="8" link="BG 1.8" link_text="BG 1.8">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.8 (1972)|BG 1.8, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Duryodhana mentions the exceptional heroes in the battle, all of whom are ever victorious. Vikarṇa is the brother of Duryodhana, Aśvatthāmā is the son of Droṇācārya, and Saumadatti, or Bhūriśravā, is the son of the King of the Bāhlīkas. Karṇa is the half brother of Arjuna, as he was born of Kuntī before her marriage with King Pāṇḍu. Kṛpācārya's twin sister married Droṇācārya.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG111_7" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="11" link="BG 1.11" link_text="BG 1.11">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.11 (1972)|BG 1.11, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">He was confident of the full support of Bhīṣmadeva and Droṇācārya in the battle because he well knew that they did not even speak a word when Arjuna's wife Draupadī, in her helpless condition, had appealed to them for justice while she was being forced to appear naked in the presence of all the great generals in the assembly. Although he knew that the two generals had some sort of affection for the Pāṇḍavas, he hoped that these generals would now completely give it up, as they had done during the gambling performances.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG114_8" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="14" link="BG 1.14" link_text="BG 1.14">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.14 (1972)|BG 1.14, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">On the other side, both Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, stationed on a great chariot drawn by white horses, sounded their transcendental conchshells.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG114_9" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="14" link="BG 1.14" link_text="BG 1.14">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.14 (1972)|BG 1.14, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In contrast with the conchshell blown by Bhīṣmadeva, the conchshells in the hands of Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are described as transcendental. The sounding of the transcendental conchshells indicated that there was no hope of victory for the other side because Kṛṣṇa was on the side of the Pāṇḍavas. Jayas tu pāṇḍu-putrāṇāṁ yeṣāṁ pakṣe janārdanaḥ. Victory is always with persons like the sons of Pāṇḍu because Lord Kṛṣṇa is associated with them.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG114_10" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="14" link="BG 1.14" link_text="BG 1.14">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.14 (1972)|BG 1.14, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Victory is always with persons like the sons of Pāṇḍu because Lord Kṛṣṇa is associated with them. And whenever and wherever the Lord is present, the goddess of fortune is also there because the goddess of fortune never lives alone without her husband. Therefore, victory and fortune were awaiting Arjuna, as indicated by the transcendental sound produced by the conchshell of Viṣṇu, or Lord Kṛṣṇa. Besides that, the chariot on which both the friends were seated had been donated by Agni (the fire-god) to Arjuna, and this indicated that this chariot was capable of conquering all sides, wherever it was drawn over the three worlds.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG115_11" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="15" link="BG 1.15" link_text="BG 1.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.15 (1972)|BG 1.15, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Kṛṣṇa blew His conchshell, called Pāñcajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta; and Bhīma, the voracious eater and performer of herculean tasks, blew his terrific conchshell, called Pauṇḍra.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG115_12" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="15" link="BG 1.15" link_text="BG 1.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.15 (1972)|BG 1.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Lord, situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their senses. But He directs in terms of the surrender of the living entity, and in the case of a pure devotee He directly controls the senses. Here on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra the Lord directly controls the transcendental senses of Arjuna, and thus His particular name of Hṛṣīkeśa. The Lord has different names according to His different activities.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG115_13" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="15" link="BG 1.15" link_text="BG 1.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.15 (1972)|BG 1.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">For example, His name is Madhusūdana because He killed the demon of the name Madhu; His name is Govinda because He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses; His name is Vāsudeva because He appeared as the son of Vasudeva; His name is Devakī-nandana because He accepted Devakī as His mother; His name is Yaśodā-nandana because He awarded His childhood pastimes to Yaśodā at Vṛndāvana; His name is Pārtha-sārathi because He worked as charioteer of His friend Arjuna. Similarly, His name is Hṛṣīkeśa because He gave direction to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG120_14" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="18" link="BG 1.20" link_text="BG 1.20">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.20 (1972)|BG 1.20, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">At that time Arjuna, the son of Pāṇḍu, seated in the chariot bearing the flag marked with Hanumān, took up his bow and prepared to shoot his arrows. O King, after looking at the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra drawn in military array, Arjuna then spoke to Lord Kṛṣṇa these words.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG120_15" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="18" link="BG 1.20" link_text="BG 1.20">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.20 (1972)|BG 1.20, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The battle was just about to begin. It is understood from the above statement that the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra were more or less disheartened by the unexpected arrangement of military force by the Pāṇḍavas, who were guided by the direct instructions of Lord Kṛṣṇa on the battlefield. The emblem of Hanumān on the flag of Arjuna is another sign of victory because Hanumān cooperated with Lord Rāma in the battle between Rāma and Rāvaṇa, and Lord Rāma emerged victorious. Now both Rāma and Hanumān were present on the chariot of Arjuna to help him.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG120_16" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="18" link="BG 1.20" link_text="BG 1.20">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.20 (1972)|BG 1.20, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Kṛṣṇa is Rāma Himself, and wherever Lord Rāma is, His eternal servitor Hanumān and His eternal consort Sītā, the goddess of fortune, are present. Therefore, Arjuna had no cause to fear any enemies whatsoever. And above all, the Lord of the senses, Lord Kṛṣṇa, was personally present to give him direction. Thus, all good counsel was available to Arjuna in the matter of executing the battle. In such auspicious conditions, arranged by the Lord for His eternal devotee, lay the signs of assured victory.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG12122_17" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="19" link="BG 1.21-22" link_text="BG 1.21-22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.21-22 (1972)|BG 1.21-22, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: O infallible one, please draw my chariot between the two armies so that I may see those present here, who desire to fight, and with whom I must contend in this great trial of arms.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG12122_18" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="19" link="BG 1.21-22" link_text="BG 1.21-22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.21-22 (1972)|BG 1.21-22, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Although Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, out of His causeless mercy He was engaged in the service of His friend. He never fails in His affection for His devotees, and thus He is addressed herein as infallible. As charioteer, He had to carry out the orders of Arjuna, and since He did not hesitate to do so, He is addressed as infallible. Although He had accepted the position of a charioteer for His devotee, His supreme position was not challenged. In all circumstances, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hṛṣīkeśa, the Lord of the total senses. The relationship between the Lord and His servitor is very sweet and transcendental.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG12122_19" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="19" link="BG 1.21-22" link_text="BG 1.21-22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.21-22 (1972)|BG 1.21-22, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As a pure devotee of the Lord, Arjuna had no desire to fight with his cousins and brothers, but he was forced to come onto the battlefield by the obstinacy of Duryodhana, who was never agreeable to any peaceful negotiation. Therefore, he was very anxious to see who the leading persons present on the battlefield were. Although there was no question of a peacemaking endeavor on the battlefield, he wanted to see them again, and to see how much they were bent upon demanding an unwanted war.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG123_20" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="20" link="BG 1.23" link_text="BG 1.23">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.23 (1972)|BG 1.23, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">It was an open secret that Duryodhana wanted to usurp the kingdom of the Pāṇḍavas by evil plans, in collaboration with his father, Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Therefore, all persons who had joined the side of Duryodhana must have been birds of the same feather. Arjuna wanted to see them on the battlefield before the fight was begun, just to learn who they were, but he had no intention of proposing peace negotiations with them. It was also a fact that he wanted to see them to make an estimate of the strength which he had to face, although he was quite confident of victory because Kṛṣṇa was sitting by his side.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG124_21" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="21" link="BG 1.24" link_text="BG 1.24">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.24 (1972)|BG 1.24, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Sañjaya said: O descendant of Bharata, having thus been addressed by Arjuna, Lord Kṛṣṇa drew up the fine chariot in the midst of the armies of both parties.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG124_22" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="21" link="BG 1.24" link_text="BG 1.24">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.24 (1972)|BG 1.24, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In this verse Arjuna is referred to as Guḍākeśa. Guḍākā means sleep, and one who conquers sleep is called guḍākeśa. Sleep also means ignorance. So Arjuna conquered both sleep and ignorance because of his friendship with Kṛṣṇa. As a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he could not forget Kṛṣṇa even for a moment, because that is the nature of a devotee.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG124_23" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="21" link="BG 1.24" link_text="BG 1.24">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.24 (1972)|BG 1.24, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Thus a devotee of Kṛṣṇa can conquer both sleep and ignorance simply by thinking of Kṛṣṇa constantly. This is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or samādhi. As Hṛṣīkeśa, or the director of the senses and mind of every living entity, Kṛṣṇa could understand Arjuna's purpose in placing the chariot in the midst of the armies. Thus He did so, and spoke as follows.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG125_24" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="22" link="BG 1.25" link_text="BG 1.25">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.25 (1972)|BG 1.25, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As the Supersoul of all living entities, Lord Kṛṣṇa could understand what was going on in the mind of Arjuna. The use of the word Hṛṣīkeśa in this connection indicates that He knew everything. And the word Pārtha, or the son of Kuntī, or Pṛthā, is also similarly significant in reference to Arjuna. As a friend, He wanted to inform Arjuna that because Arjuna was the son of Pṛthā, the sister of His own father Vasudeva, He had agreed to be the charioteer of Arjuna. Now what did Kṛṣṇa mean when He told Arjuna to "behold the Kurus"? Did Arjuna want to stop there and not fight? Kṛṣṇa never expected such things from the son of His aunt Pṛthā. The mind of Arjuna was thus predicted by the Lord in friendly joking.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG126_25" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="23" link="BG 1.26" link_text="BG 1.26">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.26 (1972)|BG 1.26, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">There Arjuna could see, within the midst of the armies of both parties, his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, and also his fathers-in-law and well-wishers.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG126_26" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="23" link="BG 1.26" link_text="BG 1.26">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.26 (1972)|BG 1.26, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">On the battlefield Arjuna could see all kinds of relatives. He could see persons like Bhūriśravā, who were his father's contemporaries, grandfathers Bhīṣma and Somadatta, teachers like Droṇācārya and Kṛpācārya, maternal uncles like Śalya and Śakuni, brothers like Duryodhana, sons like Lakṣmaṇa, friends like Aśvatthāmā, well-wishers like Kṛtavarmā, etc. He could see also the armies which contained many of his friends.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG127_27" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="24" link="BG 1.27" link_text="BG 1.27">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.27 (1972)|BG 1.27, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">When the son of Kuntī, Arjuna, saw all these different grades of friends and relatives, he became overwhelmed with compassion and spoke thus.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG128_28" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="25" link="BG 1.28" link_text="BG 1.28">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.28 (1972)|BG 1.28, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: My dear Kṛṣṇa, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG128_29" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="25" link="BG 1.28" link_text="BG 1.28">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.28 (1972)|BG 1.28, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Any man who has genuine devotion to the Lord has all the good qualities which are found in godly persons or in the demigods, whereas the nondevotee, however advanced he may be in material qualifications by education and culture, lacks in godly qualities. As such, Arjuna, just after seeing his kinsmen, friends and relatives on the battlefield, was at once overwhelmed by compassion for them who had so decided to fight amongst themselves.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG128_30" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="25" link="BG 1.28" link_text="BG 1.28">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.28 (1972)|BG 1.28, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As far as his soldiers were concerned, he was sympathetic from the beginning, but he felt compassion even for the soldiers of the opposite party, foreseeing their imminent death. And while he was so thinking, the limbs of his body began to quiver, and his mouth became dry. He was more or less astonished to see their fighting spirit. Practically the whole community, all blood relatives of Arjuna, had come to fight with him. This overwhelmed a kind devotee like Arjuna. Although it is not mentioned here, still one can easily imagine that not only were Arjuna's bodily limbs quivering and his mouth drying up, but he was also crying out of compassion. Such symptoms in Arjuna were not due to weakness but to his softheartedness, a characteristic of a pure devotee of the Lord.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG129_31" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="26" link="BG 1.29" link_text="BG 1.29">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.29 (1972)|BG 1.29, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">There are two kinds of trembling of the body, and two kinds of standings of the hair on end. Such phenomena occur either in great spiritual ecstasy or out of great fear under material conditions. There is no fear in transcendental realization. Arjuna's symptoms in this situation are out of material fear-namely, loss of life. This is evident from other symptoms also; he became so impatient that his famous bow Gāṇḍīva was slipping from his hands, and, because his heart was burning within him, he was feeling a burning sensation of the skin. All these are due to a material conception of life.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG130_32" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="27" link="BG 1.30" link_text="BG 1.30">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.30 (1972)|BG 1.30, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Due to his impatience, Arjuna was unable to stay on the battlefield, and he was forgetting himself on account of this weakness of his mind. Excessive attachment for material things puts a man in such a bewildering condition of existence. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt ([[Vanisource:SB 11.2.37|SB 11.2.37]]): such fearfulness and loss of mental equilibrium take place in persons who are too affected by material conditions. Arjuna envisioned only painful reverses in the battlefield—he would not be happy even by gaining victory over the foe. The words nimittāni viparītāni are significant.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG130_33" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="27" link="BG 1.30" link_text="BG 1.30">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.30 (1972)|BG 1.30, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">When a man sees only frustration in his expectations, he thinks, "Why am I here?" Everyone is interested in himself and his own welfare. No one is interested in the Supreme Self. Arjuna is showing ignorance of his real self-interest by Kṛṣṇa's will. One's real self-interest lies in Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. The conditioned soul forgets this, and therefore suffers material pains. Arjuna thought that his victory in the battle would only be a cause of lamentation for him.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG131_34" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="28" link="BG 1.31" link_text="BG 1.31">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.31 (1972)|BG 1.31, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Without knowing that one's self-interest is in Viṣṇu (or Kṛṣṇa), conditioned souls are attracted by bodily relationships, hoping to be happy in such situations. In such a blind conception of life, they forget even the causes of material happiness. Arjuna appears to have even forgotten the moral codes for a kṣatriya. It is said that two kinds of men, namely the kṣatriya who dies directly in front of the battlefield under Kṛṣṇa's personal orders and the person in the renounced order of life who is absolutely devoted to spiritual culture, are eligible to enter into the sun globe, which is so powerful and dazzling.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG131_35" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="28" link="BG 1.31" link_text="BG 1.31">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.31 (1972)|BG 1.31, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna is reluctant even to kill his enemies, let alone his relatives. He thinks that by killing his kinsmen there would be no happiness in his life, and therefore he is not willing to fight, just as a person who does not feel hunger is not inclined to cook. He has now decided to go into the forest and live a secluded life in frustration. But as a kṣatriya, he requires a kingdom for his subsistence, because the kṣatriyas cannot engage themselves in any other occupation. But Arjuna has no kingdom. Arjuna's sole opportunity for gaining a kingdom lies in fighting with his cousins and brothers and reclaiming the kingdom inherited from his father, which he does not like to do. Therefore he considers himself fit to go to the forest to live a secluded life of frustration.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG13235_36" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="29" link="BG 1.32-35" link_text="BG 1.32-35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.32-35 (1972)|BG 1.32-35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna has addressed Lord Kṛṣṇa as Govinda because Kṛṣṇa is the object of all pleasures for cows and the senses. By using this significant word, Arjuna indicates that Kṛṣṇa should understand what will satisfy Arjuna's senses. But Govinda is not meant for satisfying our senses. If we try to satisfy the senses of Govinda, however, then automatically our own senses are satisfied. Materially, everyone wants to satisfy his senses, and he wants God to be the order supplier for such satisfaction.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG13235_37" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="29" link="BG 1.32-35" link_text="BG 1.32-35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.32-35 (1972)|BG 1.32-35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Lord will satisfy the senses of the living entities as much as they deserve, but not to the extent that they may covet. But when one takes the opposite way—namely, when one tries to satisfy the senses of Govinda without desiring to satisfy one's own senses—then by the grace of Govinda all desires of the living entity are satisfied. Arjuna's deep affection for community and family members is exhibited here partly due to his natural compassion for them. He is therefore not prepared to fight. Everyone wants to show his opulence to friends and relatives, but Arjuna fears that all his relatives and friends will be killed on the battlefield and he will be unable to share his opulence after victory. This is a typical calculation of material life.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG13235_38" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="29" link="BG 1.32-35" link_text="BG 1.32-35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.32-35 (1972)|BG 1.32-35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The transcendental life, however, is different. Since a devotee wants to satisfy the desires of the Lord, he can, Lord willing, accept all kinds of opulence for the service of the Lord, and if the Lord is not willing, he should not accept a farthing. Arjuna did not want to kill his relatives, and if there were any need to kill them, he desired that Kṛṣṇa kill them personally. At this point he did not know that Kṛṣṇa had already killed them before their coming into the battlefield and that he was only to become an instrument for Kṛṣṇa. This fact is disclosed in following chapters. As a natural devotee of the Lord, Arjuna did not like to retaliate against his miscreant cousins and brothers, but it was the Lord's plan that they should all be killed.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG13235_39" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="29" link="BG 1.32-35" link_text="BG 1.32-35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.32-35 (1972)|BG 1.32-35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The devotee of the Lord does not retaliate against the wrongdoer, but the Lord does not tolerate any mischief done to the devotee by the miscreants. The Lord can excuse a person on His own account, but He excuses no one who has done harm to His devotees. Therefore the Lord was determined to kill the miscreants, although Arjuna wanted to excuse them.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG136_40" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="30" link="BG 1.36" link_text="BG 1.36">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.36 (1972)|BG 1.36, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Such killing of aggressors is quite befitting any ordinary man, but Arjuna was not an ordinary person. He was saintly by character, and therefore he wanted to deal with them in saintliness. This kind of saintliness, however, is not for a kṣatriya. Although a responsible man in the administration of a state is required to be saintly, he should not be cowardly.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG136_41" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="30" link="BG 1.36" link_text="BG 1.36">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.36 (1972)|BG 1.36, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Rāvaṇa was an aggressor against Rāma because Rāvaṇa kidnapped Rāma's wife, Sītā, but Lord Rāma gave him sufficient lessons, unparalleled in the history of the world. In Arjuna's case, however, one should consider the special type of aggressors, namely his own grandfather, own teacher, friends, sons, grandsons, etc. Because of them, Arjuna thought that he should not take the severe steps necessary against ordinary aggressors. Besides that, saintly persons are advised to forgive. Such injunctions for saintly persons are more important than any political emergency.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG136_42" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="30" link="BG 1.36" link_text="BG 1.36">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.36 (1972)|BG 1.36, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna considered that rather than kill his own kinsmen for political reasons, it would be better to forgive them on grounds of religion and saintly behavior. He did not, therefore, consider such killing profitable simply for the matter of temporary bodily happiness. After all, kingdoms and pleasures derived therefrom are not permanent, so why should he risk his life and eternal salvation by killing his own kinsmen? Arjuna's addressing of Kṛṣṇa as "Mādhava," or the husband of the goddess of fortune, is also significant in this connection. He wanted to point out to Kṛṣṇa that, as husband of the goddess of fortune, He should not induce Arjuna to take up a matter which would ultimately bring about misfortune. Kṛṣṇa, however, never brings misfortune to anyone, to say nothing of His devotees.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG13738_43" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="31" link="BG 1.37-38" link_text="BG 1.37-38">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.37-38 (1972)|BG 1.37-38, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">A kṣatriya is not supposed to refuse to battle or gamble when he is so invited by some rival party. Under such an obligation, Arjuna could not refuse to fight, because he had been challenged by the party of Duryodhana. In this connection, Arjuna considered that the other party might be blind to the effects of such a challenge. Arjuna, however, could see the evil consequences and could not accept the challenge. Obligation is actually binding when the effect is good, but when the effect is otherwise, then no one can be bound. Considering all these pros and cons, Arjuna decided not to fight.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG143_44" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="36" link="BG 1.43" link_text="BG 1.43">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.43 (1972)|BG 1.43, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna bases his argument not on his own personal experience, but on what he has heard from the authorities. That is the way of receiving real knowledge. One cannot reach the real point of factual knowledge without being helped by the right person who is already established in that knowledge. There is a system in the varṇāśrama institution by which before death one has to undergo the process of atonement for his sinful activities. One who is always engaged in sinful activities must utilize the process of atonement called the prāyaścitta. Without doing so, one surely will be transferred to hellish planets to undergo miserable lives as the result of sinful activities.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG144_45" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="37" link="BG 1.44" link_text="BG 1.44">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.44 (1972)|BG 1.44, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Driven by selfish motives, one may be inclined to such sinful acts as the killing of one's own brother, father or mother. There are many such instances in the history of the world. But Arjuna, being a saintly devotee of the Lord, is always conscious of moral principles and therefore takes care to avoid such activities.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG145_46" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="38" link="BG 1.45" link_text="BG 1.45">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.45 (1972)|BG 1.45, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">It is the custom—according to kṣatriya fighting principles—that an unarmed and unwilling foe should not be attacked. Arjuna, however, decided that even if attacked by the enemy in such an awkward position, he would not fight. He did not consider how much the other party was bent upon fighting. All these symptoms are due to soft-heartedness resulting from his being a great devotee of the Lord.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG146_47" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="39" link="BG 1.46" link_text="BG 1.46">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.46 (1972)|BG 1.46, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Sañjaya said: Arjuna, having thus spoken on the battlefield, cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG146_48" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="39" link="BG 1.46" link_text="BG 1.46">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 1.46 (1972)|BG 1.46, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">While observing the situation of his enemy, Arjuna stood up on the chariot, but he was so afflicted with lamentation that he sat down again, setting aside his bow and arrows. Such a kind and soft-hearted person, in the devotional service of the Lord, is fit to receive self-knowledge.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG21_49" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="40" link="BG 2.1" link_text="BG 2.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.1 (1972)|BG 2.1, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Sañjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusūdana, Kṛṣṇa, spoke the following words.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG21_50" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="40" link="BG 2.1" link_text="BG 2.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.1 (1972)|BG 2.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization. The word "Madhusūdana" is significant in this verse. Lord Kṛṣṇa killed the demon Madhu, and now Arjuna wanted Kṛṣṇa to kill the demon of misunderstanding that had overtaken him in the discharge of his duty. No one knows where compassion should be applied. Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is senseless.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG21_51" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="40" link="BG 2.1" link_text="BG 2.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.1 (1972)|BG 2.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">One who does not know this and laments for the outward dress is called a śūdra, or one who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a kṣatriya, and this conduct was not expected from him. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, can dissipate the lamentation of the ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad-gītā was sung by Him.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG22_52" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="41" link="BG 2.2" link_text="BG 2.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.2 (1972)|BG 2.2, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG22_53" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="41" link="BG 2.2" link_text="BG 2.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.2 (1972)|BG 2.2, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Arjuna's lamentation for his kinsmen is certainly unbecoming, and therefore Kṛṣṇa expressed His surprise with the word kutaḥ, "wherefrom." Such impurities were never expected from a person belonging to the civilized class of men known as Āryans.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG22_54" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="41" link="BG 2.2" link_text="BG 2.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.2 (1972)|BG 2.2, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Persons who are led by the material conception of life do not know that the aim of life is realization of the Absolute Truth, Viṣṇu, or Bhagavān, 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-Āryans. Although Arjuna was a kṣatriya, he was deviating from his prescribed duties by declining to fight. This act of cowardice is described as befitting the non-Āryans. 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 Kṛṣṇa did not approve of the so-called compassion of Arjuna for his kinsmen.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG23_55" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="42" link="BG 2.3" link_text="BG 2.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.3 (1972)|BG 2.3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna was addressed as the son of Pṛthā, who happened to be the sister of Kṛṣṇa's father Vasudeva. Therefore Arjuna had a blood relationship with Kṛṣṇa. If the son of a kṣatriya declines to fight, he is a kṣatriya in name only, and if the son of a brāhmaṇa acts impiously, he is a brāhmaṇa in name only. Such kṣatriyas and brāhmaṇas are unworthy sons of their fathers; therefore, Kṛṣṇa did not want Arjuna to become an unworthy son of a kṣatriya.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG23_56" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="42" link="BG 2.3" link_text="BG 2.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.3 (1972)|BG 2.3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna was the most intimate friend of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa was directly guiding him on the chariot; but in spite of all these credits, if Arjuna abandoned the battle he would be committing an infamous act. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said that such an attitude in Arjuna did not fit his personality. Arjuna might argue that he would give up the battle on the grounds of his magnanimous attitude for the most respectable Bhīṣma and his relatives, but Kṛṣṇa considered that sort of magnanimity mere weakness of heart. Such false magnanimity was not approved by any authority. Therefore, such magnanimity or so-called nonviolence should be given up by persons like Arjuna under the direct guidance of Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG24_57" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="43" link="BG 2.4" link_text="BG 2.4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.4 (1972)|BG 2.4, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: O killer of enemies, O killer of Madhu, how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhīṣma and Droṇa, who are worthy of my worship?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG24_58" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="43" link="BG 2.4" link_text="BG 2.4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.4 (1972)|BG 2.4, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Respectable superiors like Bhīṣma the grandfather and Droṇācārya the teacher are always worshipable. Even if they attack, they should not be counterattacked. It is general etiquette that superiors are not to be offered even a verbal fight. Even if they are sometimes harsh in behavior, they should not be harshly treated. Then, how is it possible for Arjuna to counterattack them? Would Kṛṣṇa ever attack His own grandfather, Ugrasena, or His teacher, Sāndīpani Muni? These were some of the arguments offered by Arjuna to Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG25_59" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="44" link="BG 2.5" link_text="BG 2.5">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.5 (1972)|BG 2.5, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Under the circumstances, they have lost the respectability of teachers. But Arjuna thinks that nevertheless they remain his superiors, and therefore to enjoy material profits after killing them would mean to enjoy spoils tainted with blood.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG26_60" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="45" link="BG 2.6" link_text="BG 2.6">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.6 (1972)|BG 2.6, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna did not know whether he should fight and risk unnecessary violence, although fighting is the duty of the kṣatriyas, or whether he should refrain and live by begging. If he did not conquer the enemy, begging would be his only means of subsistence. Nor was there certainty of victory, because either side might emerge victorious.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG26_61" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="45" link="BG 2.6" link_text="BG 2.6">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.6 (1972)|BG 2.6, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">All these considerations by Arjuna definitely proved that not only was he a great devotee of the Lord but he was also highly enlightened and had complete control over his mind and senses. His desire to live by begging, although he was born in the royal household, is another sign of detachment. He was truly virtuous, as these qualities, combined with his faith in the words of instruction of Śrī Kṛṣṇa (his spiritual master), indicate. It is concluded that Arjuna was quite fit for liberation. Unless the senses are controlled, there is no chance of elevation to the platform of knowledge, and without knowledge and devotion there is no chance of liberation. Arjuna was competent in all these attributes, over and above his enormous attributes in his material relationships.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG27_62" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="46" link="BG 2.7" link_text="BG 2.7">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.7 (1972)|BG 2.7, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The kṛpaṇa thinks that he is able to protect his family members from death; or the kṛpaṇa thinks that his family or society can save him from the verge of death. Such family attachment can be found even in the lower animals, who take care of children also. Being intelligent, Arjuna could understand that his affection for family members and his wish to protect them from death were the causes of his perplexities.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG27_63" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="46" link="BG 2.7" link_text="BG 2.7">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.7 (1972)|BG 2.7, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">He offers himself to Kṛṣṇa as a disciple. He wants to stop friendly talks. Talks between the master and the disciple are serious, and now Arjuna wants to talk very seriously before the recognized spiritual master. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the original spiritual master of the science of Bhagavad-gītā, and Arjuna is the first disciple for understanding the Gītā. How Arjuna understands the Bhagavad-gītā is stated in the Gītā itself. And yet foolish mundane scholars explain that one need not submit to Kṛṣṇa as a person, but to "the unborn within Kṛṣṇa."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG28_64" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="47" link="BG 2.8" link_text="BG 2.8">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.8 (1972)|BG 2.8, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Although Arjuna was putting forward so many arguments based on knowledge of the principles of religion and moral codes, it appears that he was unable to solve his real problem without the help of the spiritual master, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He could understand that his so-called knowledge was useless in driving away his problems, which were drying up his whole existence; and it was impossible for him to solve such perplexities without the help of a spiritual master like Lord Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG28_65" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="47" link="BG 2.8" link_text="BG 2.8">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.8 (1972)|BG 2.8, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">If economic development and material comforts could drive away one's lamentations for family, social, national or international inebrieties, then Arjuna would not have said that even an unrivaled kingdom on earth or supremacy like that of the demigods in the heavenly planets would be unable to drive away his lamentations. He sought, therefore, refuge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that is the right path for peace and harmony.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG28_66" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="47" link="BG 2.8" link_text="BG 2.8">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.8 (1972)|BG 2.8, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore, if we want to curb lamentation for good, then we have to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, as Arjuna is seeking to do. So Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa to solve his problem definitely, and that is the way of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG29_67" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="48" link="BG 2.9" link_text="BG 2.9">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.9 (1972)|BG 2.9, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, "Govinda, I shall not fight," and fell silent.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG29_68" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="48" link="BG 2.9" link_text="BG 2.9">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.9 (1972)|BG 2.9, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Dhṛtarāṣṭra must have been very glad to understand that Arjuna was not going to fight and was instead leaving the battlefield for the begging profession. But Sañjaya disappointed him again in relating that Arjuna was competent to kill his enemies (parantapaḥ). Although Arjuna was, for the time being, overwhelmed with false grief due to family affection, he surrendered unto Kṛṣṇa, the supreme spiritual master, as a disciple.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG29_69" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="48" link="BG 2.9" link_text="BG 2.9">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.9 (1972)|BG 2.9, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">This indicated that he would soon be free from the false lamentation resulting from family affection and would be enlightened with perfect knowledge of self-realization, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and would then surely fight. Thus Dhṛtarāṣṭra's joy would be frustrated, since Arjuna would be enlightened by Kṛṣṇa and would fight to the end.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG210_70" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="49" link="BG 2.10" link_text="BG 2.10">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.10 (1972)|BG 2.10, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṇa, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG211_71" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="50" link="BG 2.11" link_text="BG 2.11">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.11 (1972)|BG 2.11, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As explained in later chapters, it will be clear that knowledge means to know matter and spirit and the controller of both. Arjuna argued that religious principles should be given more importance than politics or sociology, but he did not know that knowledge of matter, soul and the Supreme is even more important than religious formularies.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG212_72" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="51" link="BG 2.12" link_text="BG 2.12">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.12 (1972)|BG 2.12, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The same Vedic truth given to Arjuna is given to all persons in the world who pose themselves as very learned but factually have but a poor fund of knowledge. The Lord says clearly that He Himself, Arjuna and all the kings who are assembled on the battlefield are eternally individual beings and that the Lord is eternally the maintainer of the individual living entities both in their conditioned and in their liberated situations.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG212_73" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="51" link="BG 2.12" link_text="BG 2.12">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.12 (1972)|BG 2.12, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme individual person, and Arjuna, the Lord's eternal associate, and all the kings assembled there are individual eternal persons. It is not that they did not exist as individuals in the past, and it is not that they will not remain eternal persons. Their individuality existed in the past, and their individuality will continue in the future without interruption. Therefore, there is no cause for lamentation for anyone.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG213_74" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="52" link="BG 2.13" link_text="BG 2.13">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.13 (1972)|BG 2.13, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">This individual soul finally changes the body at death and transmigrates to another body; and since it is sure to have another body in the next birth—either material or spiritual—there was no cause for lamentation by Arjuna on account of death, neither for Bhīṣma nor for Droṇa, for whom he was so much concerned. Rather, he should rejoice for their changing bodies from old to new ones, thereby rejuvenating their energy. Such changes of body account for varieties of enjoyment or suffering, according to one's work in life.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG213_75" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="52" link="BG 2.13" link_text="BG 2.13">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.13 (1972)|BG 2.13, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The stars can be compared to the living entities and the sun or the moon to the Supreme Lord. The individual fragmental spirit soul is represented by Arjuna, and the Supreme Soul is the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa. They are not on the same level, as it will be apparent in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter. If Arjuna is on the same level with Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is not superior to Arjuna, then their relationship of instructor and instructed becomes meaningless. If both of them are deluded by the illusory energy (māyā), then there is no need of one being the instructor and the other the instructed. Such instruction would be useless because, in the clutches of māyā, no one can be an authoritative instructor. Under the circumstances, it is admitted that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, superior in position to the living entity, Arjuna, who is a forgetful soul deluded by māyā.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG214_76" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="53" link="BG 2.14" link_text="BG 2.14">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.14 (1972)|BG 2.14, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The two different names of address given to Arjuna are also significant. To address him as Kaunteya signifies his great blood relations from his mother's side; and to address him as Bhārata signifies his greatness from his father's side. From both sides he is supposed to have a great heritage. A great heritage brings responsibility in the matter of proper discharge of duties; therefore, he cannot avoid fighting.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG215_77" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="54" link="BG 2.15" link_text="BG 2.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.15 (1972)|BG 2.15, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O best among men (Arjuna), the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG215_78" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="54" link="BG 2.15" link_text="BG 2.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.15 (1972)|BG 2.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The difficulties usually arise from having to sever family relationships, to give up the connection of wife and children. But if anyone is able to tolerate such difficulties, surely his path to spiritual realization is complete. Similarly, in Arjuna's discharge of duties as a kṣatriya, he is advised to persevere, even if it is difficult to fight with his family members or similarly beloved persons. Lord Caitanya took sannyāsa at the age of twenty-four, and His dependents, young wife as well as old mother, had no one else to look after them.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG218_79" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="57" link="BG 2.18" link_text="BG 2.18">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.18 (1972)|BG 2.18, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In the Vedānta-sūtras the living entity is qualified as light because he is part and parcel of the supreme light. As sunlight maintains the entire universe, so the light of the soul maintains this material body. As soon as the spirit soul is out of this material body, the body begins to decompose; therefore it is the spirit soul which maintains this body. The body itself is unimportant. Arjuna was advised to fight and not sacrifice the cause of religion for material, bodily considerations.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG219_80" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="58" link="BG 2.19" link_text="BG 2.19">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.19 (1972)|BG 2.19, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Killing the body of anyone without authority is abominable and is punishable by the law of the state as well as by the law of the Lord. Arjuna, however, is being engaged in killing for the principle of religion, and not whimsically.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG220_81" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="59" link="BG 2.20" link_text="BG 2.20">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.20 (1972)|BG 2.20, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">"Both the Supersoul (Paramātmā) and the atomic soul (jīvātmā) are situated on the same tree of the body within the same heart of the living being, and only one who has become free from all material desires as well as lamentations can, by the grace of the Supreme, understand the glories of the soul." Kṛṣṇa is the fountainhead of the Supersoul also, as it will be disclosed in the following chapters, and Arjuna is the atomic soul, forgetful of his real nature; therefore he requires to be enlightened by Kṛṣṇa, or by His bona fide representative (the spiritual master).</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG221_82" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="60" link="BG 2.21" link_text="BG 2.21">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.21 (1972)|BG 2.21, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore, the king's punishment of hanging a murderer is actually beneficial. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa orders fighting, it must be concluded that violence is for supreme justice, and thus Arjuna should follow the instruction, knowing well that such violence, committed in the act of fighting for Kṛṣṇa, is not violence at all because, at any rate, the man, or rather the soul, cannot be killed; so for the administration of justice, so-called violence is permitted. A surgical operation is not meant to kill the patient, but to cure him. Therefore the fighting to be executed by Arjuna at the instruction of Kṛṣṇa is with full knowledge, so there is no possibility of sinful reaction.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG222_83" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="61" link="BG 2.22" link_text="BG 2.22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.22 (1972)|BG 2.22, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird (Kṛṣṇa) is simply watching His friend. Of these two birds—although they are the same in quality—one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the activities of His friend. Kṛṣṇa is the witnessing bird, and Arjuna is the eating bird. Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one's changing his position from one tree to another, or from one body to another. The jīva soul is struggling very hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master—as Arjuna agreed to do by voluntary surrender unto Kṛṣṇa for instruction—the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG222_84" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="61" link="BG 2.22" link_text="BG 2.22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.22 (1972)|BG 2.22, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">"Although the two birds are in the same tree, the eating bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruits of the tree. But if in some way or other he turns his face to his friend who is the Lord and knows His glories—at once the suffering bird becomes free from all anxieties." Arjuna has now turned his face towards his eternal friend, Kṛṣṇa, and is understanding the Bhagavad-gītā from Him. And thus, hearing from Kṛṣṇa, he can understand the supreme glories of the Lord and be free from lamentation.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG222_85" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="61" link="BG 2.22" link_text="BG 2.22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.22 (1972)|BG 2.22, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna is advised herewith by the Lord not to lament for the bodily change of his old grandfather and his teacher. He should rather be happy to kill their bodies in the righteous fight so that they may be cleansed at once of all reactions from various bodily activities. One who lays down his life on the sacrificial altar, or in the proper battlefield, is at once cleansed of bodily reactions and promoted to a higher status of life. So there was no cause for Arjuna's lamentation.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG223_86" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="62" link="BG 2.23" link_text="BG 2.23">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.23 (1972)|BG 2.23, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In the Varāha Purāṇa, the living entities are described as separated parts and parcels of the Supreme. They are eternally so, according to the Bhagavad-gītā also. So, even after being liberated from illusion, the living entity remains a separate identity, as is evident from the teachings of the Lord to Arjuna. Arjuna became liberated by the knowledge received from Kṛṣṇa, but he never became one with Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG226_87" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="65" link="BG 2.26" link_text="BG 2.26">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.26 (1972)|BG 2.26, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Even if Arjuna did not believe in the existence of the soul—as in the vaibhāṣika philosophy—there would still have been no cause for lamentation. No one laments the loss of a certain bulk of chemicals and stops discharging his prescribed duty. On the other hand, in modern science and scientific warfare, so many tons of chemicals are wasted for achieving victory over the enemy. According to the vaibhāṣika philosophy, the so-called soul or ātmā vanishes along with the deterioration of the body.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG226_88" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="65" link="BG 2.26" link_text="BG 2.26">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.26 (1972)|BG 2.26, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">So, in any case, whether Arjuna accepted the Vedic conclusion that there is an atomic soul or he did not believe in the existence of the soul, he had no reason to lament. According to this theory, since there are so many living entities generating out of matter every moment, and so many of them are being vanquished every moment, there is no need to grieve for such incidents. If there were no rebirth for the soul, Arjuna had no reason to be afraid of being affected by sinful reactions due to his killing his grandfather and teacher. But at the same time, Kṛṣṇa sarcastically addressed Arjuna as mahā-bāhu, mighty-armed, because He, at least, did not accept the theory of the vaibhāṣikas, which leaves aside the Vedic wisdom. As a kṣatriya, Arjuna belonged to the Vedic culture, and it behooved him to continue to follow its principles.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG227_89" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="66" link="BG 2.27" link_text="BG 2.27">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.27 (1972)|BG 2.27, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Battle of Kurukṣetra, being the will of the Supreme, was an inevitable event, and to fight for the right cause is the duty of a kṣatriya. Why should Arjuna be afraid of or aggrieved at the death of his relatives since he was discharging his proper duty? He did not deserve to break the law, thereby becoming subjected to the reactions of sinful acts, of which he was so afraid. By avoiding the discharge of his proper duty, he would not be able to stop the death of his relatives, and he would be degraded due to his selection of the wrong path of action.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG230_90" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="69" link="BG 2.30" link_text="BG 2.30">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.30 (1972)|BG 2.30, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Lord now concludes the chapter of instruction on the immutable spirit soul. In describing the immortal soul in various ways, Lord Kṛṣṇa establishes that the soul is immortal and the body is temporary. Therefore Arjuna as a kṣatriya should not abandon his duty out of fear that his grandfather and teacher—Bhīṣma and Droṇa—will die in the battle. On the authority of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one has to believe that there is a soul different from the material body, not that there is no such thing as soul, or that living symptoms develop at a certain stage of material maturity resulting from the interaction of chemicals. Though the soul is immortal, violence is not encouraged, but at the time of war it is not discouraged when there is actual need for it. That need must be justified in terms of the sanction of the Lord, and not capriciously.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG232_91" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="71" link="BG 2.32" link_text="BG 2.32">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.32 (1972)|BG 2.32, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As supreme teacher of the world, Lord Kṛṣṇa condemns the attitude of Arjuna, who said, "I do not find any good in this fighting. It will cause perpetual habitation in hell." Such statements by Arjuna were due to ignorance only. He wanted to become nonviolent in the discharge of his specific duty. For a kṣatriya to be on the battlefield and to become nonviolent is the philosophy of fools.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG232_92" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="71" link="BG 2.32" link_text="BG 2.32">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.32 (1972)|BG 2.32, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Considering all aspects, Arjuna had no reason to refrain from fighting. If he should conquer his enemies, he would enjoy the kingdom; and if he should die in the battle, he would be elevated to the heavenly planets, whose doors were wide open to him. Fighting would be for his benefit in either case.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG233_93" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="72" link="BG 2.33" link_text="BG 2.33">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.33 (1972)|BG 2.33, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna was a famous fighter, and he attained fame by fighting many great demigods, including even Lord Śiva. After fighting and defeating Lord Śiva in the dress of a hunter, Arjuna pleased the lord and received as a reward a weapon called pāśupata-astra. Everyone knew that he was a great warrior. Even Droṇācārya gave him benedictions and awarded him the special weapon by which he could kill even his teacher. So he was credited with so many military certificates from many authorities, including his adopted father Indra, the heavenly king.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG234_94" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="73" link="BG 2.34" link_text="BG 2.34">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.34 (1972)|BG 2.34, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Both as friend and philosopher to Arjuna, Lord Kṛṣṇa now gives His final judgment regarding Arjuna's refusal to fight. The Lord says, "Arjuna, if you leave the battlefield before the battle even begins, people will call you a coward. And if you think that people may call you bad names but that you will save your life by fleeing the battlefield, then My advice is that you'd do better to die in the battle. For a respectable man like you, ill fame is worse than death. So, you should not flee for fear of your life; better to die in the battle. That will save you from the ill fame of misusing My friendship and from losing your prestige in society." So, the final judgment of the Lord was for Arjuna to die in the battle and not withdraw.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG235_95" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="74" link="BG 2.35" link_text="BG 2.35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.35 (1972)|BG 2.35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Kṛṣṇa continued to give His verdict to Arjuna: "Do not think that the great generals like Duryodhana, Karṇa, and other contemporaries will think that you have left the battlefield out of compassion for your brothers and grandfather. They will think that you have left out of fear for your life. And thus their high estimation of your personality will go to hell."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG236_96" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="75" link="BG 2.36" link_text="BG 2.36">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.36 (1972)|BG 2.36, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Kṛṣṇa was astonished in the beginning at Arjuna's uncalled—for plea for compassion, and He described his compassion as befitting the non-Āryans. Now in so many words, He has proved His statements against Arjuna's so-called compassion.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG237_97" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="76" link="BG 2.37" link_text="BG 2.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.37 (1972)|BG 2.37, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Even though there was no certainty of victory for Arjuna's side, he still had to fight; for, even being killed there, he could be elevated into the heavenly planets.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG238_98" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="77" link="BG 2.38" link_text="BG 2.38">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.38 (1972)|BG 2.38, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Kṛṣṇa now directly says that Arjuna should fight for the sake of fighting because He desires the battle. There is no consideration of happiness or distress, profit or gain, victory or defeat in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That everything should be performed for the sake of Kṛṣṇa is transcendental consciousness; so there is no reaction to material activities. He who acts for his own sense gratification, either in goodness or in passion, is subject to the reaction, good or bad. But he who has completely surrendered himself in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is no longer obliged to anyone, nor is he a debtor to anyone, as one is in the ordinary course of activities.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG238_99" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="77" link="BG 2.38" link_text="BG 2.38">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.38 (1972)|BG 2.38, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">"Anyone who has completely surrendered unto Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, giving up all other duties, is no longer a debtor, nor is he obliged to anyone—not the demigods, nor the sages, nor the people in general, nor kinsmen, nor humanity, nor forefathers." ([[Vanisource:SB 11.5.41|SB 11.5.41]]) That is the indirect hint given by Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna in this verse, and the matter will be more clearly explained in the following verses.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG239_100" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="78" link="BG 2.39" link_text="BG 2.39">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.39 (1972)|BG 2.39, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">According to the Nirukti, or the Vedic dictionary, saṅkhyā means that which describes things in detail, and sāṅkhya refers to that philosophy which describes the real nature of the soul. And yoga involves controlling the senses. Arjuna's proposal not to fight was based on sense gratification. Forgetting his prime duty, he wanted to cease fighting, because he thought that by not killing his relatives and kinsmen he would be happier than by enjoying the kingdom after conquering his cousins and brothers, the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. In both ways, the basic principles were for sense gratification.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG239_101" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="78" link="BG 2.39" link_text="BG 2.39">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.39 (1972)|BG 2.39, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Happiness derived from conquering them and happiness derived by seeing kinsmen alive are both on the basis of personal sense gratification, even at a sacrifice of wisdom and duty. Kṛṣṇa, therefore, wanted to explain to Arjuna that by killing the body of his grandfather he would not be killing the soul proper, and He explained that all individual persons, including the Lord Himself, are eternal individuals; they were individuals in the past, they are individuals in the present, and they will continue to remain individuals in the future, because all of us are individual souls eternally.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG239_102" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="78" link="BG 2.39" link_text="BG 2.39">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.39 (1972)|BG 2.39, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna has already accepted Kṛṣṇa as his spiritual master by surrendering himself unto Him: śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam. Consequently, Kṛṣṇa will now tell him about the working process in buddhi-yoga, or karma-yoga, or in other words, the practice of devotional service only for the sense gratification of the Lord. This buddhi-yoga is clearly explained in Chapter Ten, verse ten, as being direct communion with the Lord, who is sitting as Paramātmā in everyone's heart. But such communion does not take place without devotional service.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG239_103" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="78" link="BG 2.39" link_text="BG 2.39">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.39 (1972)|BG 2.39, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Real Sāṅkhya philosophy is described by Lord Kapila in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but even that Sāṅkhya has nothing to do with the current topics. Here, Sāṅkhya means analytical description of the body and the soul. Lord Kṛṣṇa made an analytical description of the soul just to bring Arjuna to the point of buddhi-yoga, or bhakti-yoga. Therefore, Lord Kṛṣṇa's Sāṅkhya and Lord Kapila's Sāṅkhya, as described in the Bhāgavatam, are one and the same.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG245_104" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="83" link="BG 2.45" link_text="BG 2.45">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.45 (1972)|BG 2.45, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the self.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG245_105" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="83" link="BG 2.45" link_text="BG 2.45">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.45 (1972)|BG 2.45, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">All material activities involve actions and reactions in the three modes of material nature. They are meant for fruitive results, which cause bondage in the material world. The Vedas deal mostly with fruitive activities to gradually elevate the general public from the field of sense gratification to a position on the transcendental plane. Arjuna, as a student and friend of Lord Kṛṣṇa, is advised to raise himself to the transcendental position of Vedānta philosophy where, in the beginning, there is brahma-jijñāsā, or questions on the supreme transcendence. All the living entities who are in the material world are struggling very hard for existence.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG247_106" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="85" link="BG 2.47" link_text="BG 2.47">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.47 (1972)|BG 2.47, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">There are three considerations here: prescribed duties, capricious work, and inaction. Prescribed duties are activities enjoined in terms of one's acquired modes of material nature. Capricious work means actions without the sanction of authority, and inaction means not performing one's prescribed duties. The Lord advised that Arjuna not be inactive, but that he perform his prescribed duty without being attached to the result. One who is attached to the result of his work is also the cause of the action. Thus he is the enjoyer or sufferer of the result of such actions.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG247_107" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="85" link="BG 2.47" link_text="BG 2.47">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.47 (1972)|BG 2.47, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna was therefore advised by the Lord to fight as a matter of duty without attachment to the result. His nonparticipation in the battle is another side of attachment. Such attachment never leads one to the path of salvation. Any attachment, positive or negative, is cause for bondage. Inaction is sinful. Therefore, fighting as a matter of duty was the only auspicious path of salvation for Arjuna.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG248_108" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="86" link="BG 2.48" link_text="BG 2.48">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.48 (1972)|BG 2.48, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG248_109" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="86" link="BG 2.48" link_text="BG 2.48">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.48 (1972)|BG 2.48, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna that he should act in yoga. And what is that yoga? Yoga means to concentrate the mind upon the Supreme by controlling the ever-disturbing senses. And who is the Supreme? The Supreme is the Lord. And because He Himself is telling Arjuna to fight, Arjuna has nothing to do with the results of the fight. Gain or victory are Kṛṣṇa's concern; Arjuna is simply advised to act according to the dictation of Kṛṣṇa. The following of Kṛṣṇa's dictation is real yoga, and this is practiced in the process called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By Kṛṣṇa consciousness only can one give up the sense of proprietorship. One has to become the servant of Kṛṣṇa, or the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 13.80|CC Madhya 13.80]]). That is the right way to discharge duty in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which alone can help one to act in yoga.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG248_110" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="86" link="BG 2.48" link_text="BG 2.48">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.48 (1972)|BG 2.48, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna is a kṣatriya, and as such he is participating in the varṇāśrama-dharma institution. It is said in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa that in the varṇāśrama-dharma, the whole aim is to satisfy Viṣṇu. No one should satisfy himself, as is the rule in the material world, but one should satisfy Kṛṣṇa. So unless one satisfies Kṛṣṇa, one cannot correctly observe the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma. Indirectly, Arjuna was advised to act as Kṛṣṇa told him.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG250_111" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="88" link="BG 2.50" link_text="BG 2.50">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.50 (1972)|BG 2.50, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Since time immemorial each living entity has accumulated the various reactions of his good and bad work. As such, he is continuously ignorant of his real constitutional position. One's ignorance can be removed by the instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā, which teaches one to surrender unto Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in all respects and become liberated from the chained victimization of action and reaction, birth after birth. Arjuna is therefore advised to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the purifying process of resultant action.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG254_112" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="92" link="BG 2.54" link_text="BG 2.54">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.54 (1972)|BG 2.54, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how does he walk?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG258_113" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="96" link="BG 2.58" link_text="BG 2.58">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.58 (1972)|BG 2.58, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The best example, set herein, is the tortoise. The tortoise can at any moment wind up its senses and exhibit them again at any time for particular purposes. Similarly, the senses of the Kṛṣṇa conscious persons are used only for some particular purpose in the service of the Lord and are withdrawn otherwise. Arjuna is being taught here to use his senses for the service of the Lord, instead of for his own satisfaction. Keeping the senses always in the service of the Lord is the example set by the analogy of the tortoise, who keeps the senses within.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG260_114" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="98" link="BG 2.60" link_text="BG 2.60">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.60 (1972)|BG 2.60, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG271_115" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="109" link="BG 2.71" link_text="BG 2.71">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 2.71 (1972)|BG 2.71, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">To understand one's actual position as the eternal servitor of Kṛṣṇa, without falsely claiming this material body to be oneself and without falsely claiming proprietorship over anything in the world, is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who is situated in this perfect stage knows that because Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of everything, everything must be used for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna did not want to fight for his own sense satisfaction, but when he became fully Kṛṣṇa conscious he fought because Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight. For himself there was no desire to fight, but for Kṛṣṇa the same Arjuna fought to his best ability. Real desirelessness is desire for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, not an artificial attempt to abolish desires.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG31_116" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="111" link="BG 3.1" link_text="BG 3.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.1 (1972)|BG 3.1, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: O Janārdana, O Keśava, why do You want to engage me in this ghastly warfare, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG31_117" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="111" link="BG 3.1" link_text="BG 3.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.1 (1972)|BG 3.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa has very elaborately described the constitution of the soul in the previous chapter, with a view to delivering His intimate friend Arjuna from the ocean of material grief. And the path of realization has been recommended: buddhi-yoga, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sometimes Kṛṣṇa consciousness is misunderstood to be inertia, and one with such a misunderstanding often withdraws to a secluded place to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious by chanting the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG31_118" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="111" link="BG 3.1" link_text="BG 3.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.1 (1972)|BG 3.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">But without being trained in the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is not advisable to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa in a secluded place, where one may acquire only cheap adoration from the innocent public. Arjuna also thought of Kṛṣṇa consciousness or buddhi-yoga, or intelligence in spiritual advancement of knowledge, as something like retirement from active life and the practice of penance and austerity at a secluded place.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG32_119" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="112" link="BG 3.2" link_text="BG 3.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.2 (1972)|BG 3.2, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In the previous chapter, as a prelude to the Bhagavad-gītā, many different paths were explained, such as sāṅkhya-yoga, buddhi-yoga, control of the senses by intelligence, work without fruitive desire, and the position of the neophyte. This was all presented unsystematically. A more organized outline of the path would be necessary for action and understanding. Arjuna, therefore, wanted to clear up these apparently confusing matters so that any common man could accept them without misinterpretation. Although Kṛṣṇa had no intention of confusing Arjuna by any jugglery of words, Arjuna could not follow the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness—either by inertia or by active service. In other words, by his questions he is clearing the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness for all students who seriously want to understand the mystery of the Bhagavad-gītā.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG33_120" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="113" link="BG 3.3" link_text="BG 3.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.3 (1972)|BG 3.3, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O sinless Arjuna, I have already explained that there are two classes of men who try to realize the self. Some are inclined to understand it by empirical, philosophical speculation, and others by devotional service.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG38_121" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="118" link="BG 3.8" link_text="BG 3.8">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.8 (1972)|BG 3.8, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">There are many pseudo meditators who misrepresent themselves as belonging to high parentage, and great professional men who falsely pose that they have sacrificed everything for the sake of advancement in spiritual life. Lord Kṛṣṇa did not want Arjuna to become a pretender. Rather, the Lord desired that Arjuna perform his prescribed duties as set forth for kṣatriyas. Arjuna was a householder and a military general, and therefore it was better for him to remain as such and perform his religious duties as prescribed for the householder kṣatriya.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG39_122" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="119" link="BG 3.9" link_text="BG 3.9">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.9 (1972)|BG 3.9, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">This is the great art of doing work, and in the beginning this process requires very expert guidance. One should therefore act very diligently, under the expert guidance of a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, or under the direct instruction of Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself (under whom Arjuna had the opportunity to work). Nothing should be performed for sense gratification, but everything should be done for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. This practice will not only save one from the reaction of work, but also gradually elevate one to transcendental loving service of the Lord, which alone can raise one to the kingdom of God.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG316_123" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="126" link="BG 3.16" link_text="BG 3.16">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.16 (1972)|BG 3.16, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">My dear Arjuna, one who does not follow in human life the cycle of sacrifice thus established by the Vedas certainly leads a life full of sin. Living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG319_124" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="129" link="BG 3.19" link_text="BG 3.19">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.19 (1972)|BG 3.19, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Supreme is the Personality of Godhead for the devotees, and liberation for the impersonalist. A person, therefore, acting for Kṛṣṇa, or in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, under proper guidance and without attachment to the result of the work, is certainly making progress toward the supreme goal of life. Arjuna is told that he should fight in the Battle of Kurukṣetra for the interest of Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight. To be a good man or a nonviolent man is a personal attachment, but to act on behalf of the Supreme is to act without attachment for the result. That is perfect action of the highest degree, recommended by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG320_125" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="130" link="BG 3.20" link_text="BG 3.20">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.20 (1972)|BG 3.20, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Janaka was the father of Sītā and father-in-law of Lord Śrī Rāma. Being a great devotee of the Lord, he was transcendentally situated, but because he was the king of Mithilā (a subdivision of Bihar province in India), he had to teach his subjects how to perform prescribed duties. Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, the Lord's eternal friend, had no need to fight in the Battle of Kurukṣetra, but they fought to teach people in general that violence is also necessary in a situation where good arguments fail. Before the Battle of Kurukṣetra, every effort was made to avoid the war, even by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the other party was determined to fight.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG330_126" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="140" link="BG 3.30" link_text="BG 3.30">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.30 (1972)|BG 3.30, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with full knowledge of Me, without desires for profit, with no claims to proprietorship, and free from lethargy, fight.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG330_127" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="140" link="BG 3.30" link_text="BG 3.30">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.30 (1972)|BG 3.30, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The living entity cannot be happy independent of the cooperation of the Supreme Lord, because the eternal constitutional position of the living entity is to become subordinate to the desires of the Lord. Arjuna was therefore ordered by Śrī Kṛṣṇa to fight as if the Lord were his military commander. One has to sacrifice everything for the good will of the Supreme Lord, and at the same time discharge prescribed duties without claiming proprietorship. Arjuna did not have to consider the order of the Lord; he had only to execute His order. The Supreme Lord is the soul of all souls; therefore, one who depends solely and wholly on the Supreme Soul without personal consideration, or in other words, one who is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, is called adhyātma-cetas. Nirāśīḥ means that one has to act on the order of the master but should not expect fruitive results.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG336_128" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="146" link="BG 3.36" link_text="BG 3.36">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.36 (1972)|BG 3.36, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG336_129" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="146" link="BG 3.36" link_text="BG 3.36">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.36 (1972)|BG 3.36, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">A living entity, as part and parcel of the Supreme, is originally spiritual, pure, and free from all material contaminations. Therefore, by nature he is not subject to the sins of the material world. But when he is in contact with the material nature, he acts in many sinful ways without hesitation, and sometimes even against his will. As such, Arjuna's question to Kṛṣṇa is very sanguine, as to the perverted nature of the living entities. Although the living entity sometimes does not want to act in sin, he is still forced to act. Sinful actions are not, however, impelled by the Supersoul within, but are due to another cause, as the Lord explains in the next verse.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG337_130" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="147" link="BG 3.37" link_text="BG 3.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.37 (1972)|BG 3.37, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG337_131" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="147" link="BG 3.37" link_text="BG 3.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.37 (1972)|BG 3.37, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">If, therefore, lust is transformed into love for the Supreme, or transformed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness—or, in other words, desiring everything for Kṛṣṇa—then both lust and wrath can be spiritualized. Hanumān, the great servitor of Lord Rāma, exhibited his wrath by burning the golden city of Rāvaṇa, but by doing so he became the greatest devotee of the Lord. Here also, in Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord induces Arjuna to engage his wrath upon his enemies for the satisfaction of the Lord. Therefore, lust and wrath, when they are employed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, become our friends instead of our enemies.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG341_132" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="151" link="BG 3.41" link_text="BG 3.41">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.41 (1972)|BG 3.41, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin (lust) by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG341_133" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="151" link="BG 3.41" link_text="BG 3.41">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.41 (1972)|BG 3.41, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Lord advised Arjuna to regulate the senses from the very beginning so that he could curb the greatest sinful enemy, lust, which destroys the urge for self-realization and specific knowledge of the self. Jñāna refers to knowledge of self as distinguished from non-self, or in other words, knowledge that the spirit soul is not the body. Vijñāna refers to specific knowledge of the spirit soul's constitutional position and his relationship to the Supreme Soul.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG343_134" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="153" link="BG 3.43" link_text="BG 3.43">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.43 (1972)|BG 3.43, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O mighty-armed Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence (Kṛṣṇa consciousness) and thus—by spiritual strength-conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG41_135" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="154" link="BG 4.1" link_text="BG 4.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.1 (1972)|BG 4.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Accepting that before the birth of Manu the Gītā was spoken by the Lord to His disciple the sun-god Vivasvān, a rough estimate is that the Gītā was spoken at least 120,400,000 years ago; and in human society it has been extant for two million years. It was respoken by the Lord again to Arjuna about five thousand years ago. That is the rough estimate of the history of the Gītā, according to the Gītā itself and according to the version of the speaker, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. It was spoken to the sun-god Vivasvān because he is also a kṣatriya and is the father of all kṣatriyas who are descendants of the sun-god, or the sūrya-vaṁśa kṣatriyas.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG43_136" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="156" link="BG 4.3" link_text="BG 4.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.3 (1972)|BG 4.3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">There are two classes of men, namely the devotee and the demon. The Lord selected Arjuna as the recipient of this great science owing to his being a devotee of the Lord, but for the demon it is not possible to understand this great mysterious science. There are a number of editions of this great book of knowledge. Some of them have commentaries by the devotees, and some of them have commentaries by the demons. Commentation by the devotees is real, whereas that of the demons is useless. Arjuna accepts Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and any commentary on the Gītā following in the footsteps of Arjuna is real devotional service to the cause of this great science.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG43_137" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="156" link="BG 4.3" link_text="BG 4.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.3 (1972)|BG 4.3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The demonic, however, do not accept Lord Kṛṣṇa as He is. Instead they concoct something about Kṛṣṇa and mislead general readers from the path of Kṛṣṇa's instructions. Here is a warning about such misleading paths. One should try to follow the disciplic succession from Arjuna, and thus be benefitted by this great science of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG44_138" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="157" link="BG 4.4" link_text="BG 4.4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.4 (1972)|BG 4.4, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvān is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG44_139" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="157" link="BG 4.4" link_text="BG 4.4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.4 (1972)|BG 4.4, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna is an accepted devotee of the Lord, so how could he not believe Kṛṣṇa's words? The fact is that Arjuna is not inquiring for himself but for those who do not believe in the Supreme Personality of Godhead or for the demons who do not like the idea that Kṛṣṇa should be accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead; for them only Arjuna inquires on this point, as if he were himself not aware of the Personality of Godhead, or Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG44_140" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="157" link="BG 4.4" link_text="BG 4.4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.4 (1972)|BG 4.4, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">That Kṛṣṇa is the supreme authority is accepted by the whole world, not only at present but from time immemorial, and the demons alone reject Him. Anyway, since Kṛṣṇa is the authority accepted by all, Arjuna put this question before Him in order that Kṛṣṇa would describe Himself without being depicted by the demons, who always try to distort Him in a way understandable to the demons and their followers. It is necessary that everyone, for his own interest, know the science of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, when Kṛṣṇa Himself speaks about Himself, it is auspicious for all the worlds.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG44_141" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="157" link="BG 4.4" link_text="BG 4.4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.4 (1972)|BG 4.4, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The atheists, who consider Kṛṣṇa an ordinary man, may in this way come to know that Kṛṣṇa is superhuman, that He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)—the eternal form of bliss and knowledge—that He is transcendental, and that He is above the domination of the modes of material nature and above the influence of time and space. A devotee of Kṛṣṇa, like Arjuna, is undoubtedly above any misunderstanding of the transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna's putting this question before the Lord is simply an attempt by the devotee to defy the atheistic attitude of persons who consider Kṛṣṇa to be an ordinary human being, subject to the modes of material nature.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG45_142" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="158" link="BG 4.5" link_text="BG 4.5">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.5 (1972)|BG 4.5, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">He is like the vaidūrya stone, which changes color yet still remains one. All those multiforms are understood by the pure, unalloyed devotees, but not by a simple study of the Vedas (vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau). Devotees like Arjuna are constant companions of the Lord, and whenever the Lord incarnates, the associate devotees also incarnate in order to serve the Lord in different capacities. Arjuna is one of these devotees, and in this verse it is understood that some millions of years ago when Lord Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god Vivasvān, Arjuna, in a different capacity, was also present. But the difference between the Lord and Arjuna is that the Lord remembered the incident whereas Arjuna could not remember. That is the difference between the part-and-parcel living entity and the Supreme Lord. Although Arjuna is addressed herein as the mighty hero who could subdue the enemies, he is unable to recall what had happened in his various past births.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG45_143" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="158" link="BG 4.5" link_text="BG 4.5">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.5 (1972)|BG 4.5, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore, the Lord and the living entity can never be equal in all respects, even if the living entity is as liberated as Arjuna. Although Arjuna is a devotee of the Lord, he sometimes forgets the nature of the Lord, but by the divine grace a devotee can at once understand the infallible condition of the Lord, whereas a nondevotee or a demon cannot understand this transcendental nature. Consequently these descriptions in the Gītā cannot be understood by demonic brains. Kṛṣṇa remembered acts which were performed by Him millions of years before, but Arjuna could not, despite the fact that both Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are eternal in nature. We may also note herein that a living entity forgets everything due to his change of body, but the Lord remembers because He does not change His sac-cid-ānanda body. He is advaita, which means there is no distinction between His body and Himself. Everything in relation to Him is spirit—whereas the conditioned soul is different from his material body.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG47_144" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="160" link="BG 4.7" link_text="BG 4.7">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.7 (1972)|BG 4.7, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The principles of the Bhagavad-gītā were spoken to Arjuna, and, for that matter, to other highly elevated persons, because he was highly advanced compared to ordinary persons in other parts of the world. Two plus two equals four is a mathematical principle that is true in the beginner's arithmetic class and in the advanced class as well.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG49_145" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="162" link="BG 4.9" link_text="BG 4.9">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.9 (1972)|BG 4.9, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG415_146" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="168" link="BG 4.15" link_text="BG 4.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.15 (1972)|BG 4.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Those who are already cleansed of the impurities may continue to act in the same Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that others may follow their exemplary activities and thereby be benefited. Foolish persons or neophytes in Kṛṣṇa consciousness often want to retire from activities without having knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Arjuna's desire to retire from activities on the battlefield was not approved by the Lord. One need only know how to act. To retire from the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and to sit aloof making a show of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is less important than actually engaging in the field of activities for the sake of Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna is here advised to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, following in the footsteps of the Lord's previous disciples, such as the sun-god Vivasvān, as mentioned hereinbefore.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG416_147" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="169" link="BG 4.16" link_text="BG 4.16">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.16 (1972)|BG 4.16, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore, one has to follow in the footsteps of previous authorities in the line of disciplic succession. Otherwise even the most intelligent men will be bewildered regarding the standard actions of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For this reason, the Lord decided to instruct Arjuna in Kṛṣṇa consciousness directly. Because of the direct instruction of the Lord to Arjuna, anyone who follows in the footsteps of Arjuna is certainly not bewildered.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG416_148" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="169" link="BG 4.16" link_text="BG 4.16">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.16 (1972)|BG 4.16, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">No one can manufacture a religious principle by imperfect speculation. One must follow in the footsteps of great authorities like Brahmā, Śiva, Nārada, Manu, the Kumāras, Kapila, Prahlāda, Bhīṣma, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Yamarāja, Janaka, and Bali Mahārāja. By mental speculation one cannot ascertain what is religion or self-realization. Therefore, out of causeless mercy to His devotees, the Lord explains directly to Arjuna what action is and what inaction is. Only action performed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can deliver a person from the entanglement of material existence.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG425_149" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="178" link="BG 4.25" link_text="BG 4.25">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.25 (1972)|BG 4.25, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In other words, the fruitive workers sacrifice their material possessions for material enjoyment, whereas the impersonalist sacrifices his material designations with a view to merging into the existence of the Supreme. For the impersonalist, the fire altar of sacrifice is the Supreme Brahman, and the offering is the self being consumed by the fire of Brahman. The Kṛṣṇa conscious person, like Arjuna, however, sacrifices everything for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, and thus all his material possessions as well as his own self—everything—is sacrificed for Kṛṣṇa. Thus, he is the first-class yogī; but he does not lose his individual existence.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG435_150" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="188" link="BG 4.35" link_text="BG 4.35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.35 (1972)|BG 4.35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">For want of sufficient knowledge in the absolute science, we are now covered with illusion, and therefore we think that we are separate from Kṛṣṇa. Although we are separated parts of Kṛṣṇa, we are nevertheless not different from Him. The bodily difference of the living entities is māyā, or not actual fact. We are all meant to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. By māyā alone Arjuna thought that the temporary bodily relationship with his kinsmen was more important than his eternal spiritual relationship with Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG437_151" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="190" link="BG 4.37" link_text="BG 4.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 4.37 (1972)|BG 4.37, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG51_152" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="196" link="BG 5.1" link_text="BG 5.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 5.1 (1972)|BG 5.1, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, first of all You ask me to renounce work, and then again You recommend work with devotion. Now will You kindly tell me definitely which of the two is more beneficial?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG51_153" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="196" link="BG 5.1" link_text="BG 5.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 5.1 (1972)|BG 5.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In the Third Chapter, it was explained that a person who is situated on the platform of knowledge no longer has any duties to perform. And in the Fourth Chapter the Lord told Arjuna that all kinds of sacrificial work culminate in knowledge. However, at the end of the Fourth Chapter, the Lord advised Arjuna to wake up and fight, being situated in perfect knowledge. Therefore, by simultaneously stressing the importance of both work in devotion and inaction in knowledge, Kṛṣṇa has perplexed Arjuna and confused his determination. Arjuna understands that renunciation in knowledge involves cessation of all kinds of work performed as sense activities. But if one performs work in devotional service, then how is work stopped? In other words, he thinks that sannyāsa, or renunciation in knowledge, should be altogether free from all kinds of activity, because work and renunciation appear to him to be incompatible.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG53_154" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="198" link="BG 5.3" link_text="BG 5.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 5.3 (1972)|BG 5.3, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced. Such a person, free from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, O mighty-armed Arjuna.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG57_155" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="202" link="BG 5.7" link_text="BG 5.7">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 5.7 (1972)|BG 5.7, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore, his senses are controlled. A man of controlled senses cannot be offensive to anyone. One may ask, "Why then was Arjuna offensive (in battle) to others? Wasn't he in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?" Arjuna was only superficially offensive because (as has already been explained in the Second Chapter) all the assembled persons on the battlefield would continue to live individually, as the soul cannot be slain. So, spiritually, no one was killed on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. Only their dresses were changed by the order of Kṛṣṇa, who was personally present. Therefore Arjuna, while fighting on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, was not really fighting at all; he was simply carrying out the orders of Kṛṣṇa in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG52728_156" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="221" link="BG 5.27-28" link_text="BG 5.27-28">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 5.27-28 (1972)|BG 5.27-28, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">After explaining the above principles of liberation in the Supreme, the Lord gives instruction to Arjuna as to how one can come to that position by the practice of the mysticism or yoga known as aṣṭāṅga-yoga, which is divisible into an eightfold procedure called yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. In the Sixth Chapter the subject of yoga is explicitly detailed, and at the end of the Fifth it is only preliminarily explained.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG616_157" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="236" link="BG 6.16" link_text="BG 6.16">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.16 (1972)|BG 6.16, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogī, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG632_158" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="249" link="BG 6.32" link_text="BG 6.32">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.32 (1972)|BG 6.32, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">He is a perfect yogī who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG633_159" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="250" link="BG 6.33" link_text="BG 6.33">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.33 (1972)|BG 6.33, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG633_160" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="250" link="BG 6.33" link_text="BG 6.33">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.33 (1972)|BG 6.33, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The system of mysticism described by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna beginning with the words śucau deśe and ending with yogī paramaḥ is here being rejected by Arjuna out of a feeling of inability. It is not possible for an ordinary man to leave home and go to a secluded place in the mountains or jungles to practice yoga in this Age of Kali.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG633_161" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="250" link="BG 6.33" link_text="BG 6.33">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.33 (1972)|BG 6.33, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">People are not serious about self-realization even by simple, practical means, and what to speak of this difficult yoga system, which regulates the mode of living, the manner of sitting, selection of place, and detachment of the mind from material engagements. As a practical man, Arjuna thought it was impossible to follow this system of yoga, even though he was favorably endowed in many ways. He belonged to the royal family and was highly elevated in terms of numerous qualities; he was a great warrior, he had great longevity, and, above all, he was the most intimate friend of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Five thousand years ago, Arjuna had much better facilities than we do now, yet he refused to accept this system of yoga. In fact, we do not find any record in history of his practicing it at any time. Therefore this system must be considered generally impossible in this Age of Kali.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG634_162" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="251" link="BG 6.34" link_text="BG 6.34">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.34 (1972)|BG 6.34, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Such a strong mind is supposed to be controlled by the practice of yoga, but such practice is never practical for a worldly person like Arjuna. And what can we say of modern man? The simile used here is appropriate: one cannot capture the blowing wind. And it is even more difficult to capture the turbulent mind. The easiest way to control the mind, as suggested by Lord Caitanya, is chanting "Hare Kṛṣṇa," the great mantra for deliverance, in all humility.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG635_163" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="252" link="BG 6.35" link_text="BG 6.35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.35 (1972)|BG 6.35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The difficulty of controlling the obstinate mind, as expressed by Arjuna, is accepted by the Personality of Godhead. But at the same time He suggests that by practice and detachment it is possible. What is that practice? In the present age no one can observe the strict rules and regulations of placing oneself in a sacred place, focusing the mind on the Supersoul, restraining the senses and mind, observing celibacy, remaining alone, etc. By the practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, one engages in nine types of devotional service to the Lord.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG637_164" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="254" link="BG 6.37" link_text="BG 6.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.37 (1972)|BG 6.37, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, what is the destination of the unsuccessful transcendentalist, who in the beginning takes to the process of self-realization with faith but who later desists due to worldly-mindedness and thus does not attain perfection in mysticism?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG637_165" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="254" link="BG 6.37" link_text="BG 6.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.37 (1972)|BG 6.37, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">This was asserted by the Lord in the Second Chapter: even a little endeavor on the transcendental path offers a great hope for deliverance. Out of these three methods, the path of bhakti-yoga is especially suitable for this age because it is the most direct method of God realization. To be doubly assured, Arjuna is asking Lord Kṛṣṇa to confirm His former statement. One may sincerely accept the path of self-realization, but the process of cultivation of knowledge and the practice of the eightfold yoga system are generally very difficult for this age. Therefore, despite constant endeavor one may fail, for many reasons.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG637_166" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="254" link="BG 6.37" link_text="BG 6.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.37 (1972)|BG 6.37, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">A conditioned soul is already allured by the modes of material energy, and there is every chance of being allured again, even while performing transcendental disciplines. This is called yogāc calita-mānasaḥ: deviation from the transcendental path. Arjuna is inquisitive to know the results of deviation from the path of self-realization.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG639_167" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="256" link="BG 6.39" link_text="BG 6.39">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.39 (1972)|BG 6.39, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Kṛṣṇa is the perfect knower of past, present and future. In the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord said that all living entities existed individually in the past, they exist now in the present, and they continue to retain individual identity in the future, even after liberation from the material entanglement. So He has already cleared up the question of the future of the individual living entity. Now, Arjuna wants to know of the future of the unsuccessful transcendentalist.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG646_168" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="263" link="BG 6.46" link_text="BG 6.46">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 6.46 (1972)|BG 6.46, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">A yogī is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogī.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" text="BG Chapters 7 - 12"><h3>BG Chapters 7 - 12</h3>
</div>
<div id="BG71_0" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="1" link="BG 7.1" link_text="BG 7.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 7.1 (1972)|BG 7.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">One should therefore begin yoga practice as directed in the last verse of the Sixth Chapter. Concentration of the mind upon Kṛṣṇa the Supreme is made possible by prescribed devotional service in nine different forms, of which śravaṇam is the first and most important. The Lord therefore says to Arjuna, tac chṛṇu, or "Hear from Me." No one can be a greater authority than Kṛṣṇa, and therefore by hearing from Him one receives the greatest opportunity to become a perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious person. One has therefore to learn from Kṛṣṇa directly or from a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa—and not from a nondevotee upstart, puffed up with academic education.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG72_1" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="2" link="BG 7.2" link_text="BG 7.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 7.2 (1972)|BG 7.2, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. This is transcendental knowledge. The Lord wants to explain the above-mentioned system of knowledge because Arjuna is Kṛṣṇa's confidential devotee and friend. In the beginning of the Fourth Chapter this explanation was given by the Lord, and it is again ,vv, confirmed here: complete knowledge can be achieved only by the devotee of the Lord in disciplic succession directly from the Lord.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG73_2" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="3" link="BG 7.3" link_text="BG 7.3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 7.3 (1972)|BG 7.3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">It is not possible for the Brahman-realized impersonalist or the Paramātmā-realized yogī to understand Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the son of mother Yaśodā or the charioteer of Arjuna. Even the great demigods are sometimes confused about Kṛṣṇa (muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ). Māṁ tu veda na kaścana: "No one knows Me as I am," the Lord says. And if one does know Him, then sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ. "Such a great soul is very rare." Therefore unless one practices devotional service to the Lord, one cannot know Kṛṣṇa as He is (tattvataḥ), even though one is a great scholar or philosopher.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG75_3" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="5" link="BG 7.5" link_text="BG 7.5">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 7.5 (1972)|BG 7.5, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG711_4" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="11" link="BG 7.11" link_text="BG 7.11">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 7.11 (1972)|BG 7.11, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire. I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles, O lord of the Bhāratas (Arjuna).</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG724_5" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="24" link="BG 7.24" link_text="BG 7.24">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 7.24 (1972)|BG 7.24, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Those who are worshipers of demigods have been described as less intelligent persons, and here the impersonalists are similarly described. Lord Kṛṣṇa in His personal form is here speaking before Arjuna, and still, due to ignorance, impersonalists argue that the Supreme Lord ultimately has no form. Yāmunācārya, a great devotee of the Lord in the disciplic succession of Rāmānujācārya, has written two very appropriate verses in this connection.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG726_6" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="26" link="BG 7.26" link_text="BG 7.26">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 7.26 (1972)|BG 7.26, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG81_7" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="31" link="BG 8.1" link_text="BG 8.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.1 (1972)|BG 8.1, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna inquired: O my Lord, O Supreme Person, what is Brahman? What is the self? What are fruitive activities? What is this material manifestation? And what are the demigods? Please explain this to me.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG81_8" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="31" link="BG 8.1" link_text="BG 8.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.1 (1972)|BG 8.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In this chapter Lord Kṛṣṇa answers different questions from Arjuna, beginning with "What is Brahman?" The Lord also explains karma (fruitive activities), devotional service and yoga principles, and devotional service in its pure form. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains that the Supreme Absolute Truth is known as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. In addition, the living entity, the individual soul, is also called Brahman. Arjuna also inquires about ātmā, which refers to body, soul and mind. According to the Vedic dictionary, ātmā refers to the mind, soul, body and senses also.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG81_9" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="31" link="BG 8.1" link_text="BG 8.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.1 (1972)|BG 8.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna has addressed the Supreme Lord as Puruṣottama, Supreme Person, which means that he was putting these questions not simply to a friend but to the Supreme Person, knowing Him to be the supreme authority able to give definitive answers.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG82_10" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="32" link="BG 8.2" link_text="BG 8.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.2 (1972)|BG 8.2, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">"Lord of sacrifice" may refer to either Indra or Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is the chief of the primal demigods, including Brahmā and Śiva, and Indra is the chief of the administrative demigods. Both Indra and Viṣṇu are worshiped by yajña performances. But here Arjuna asks who is actually the Lord of yajña (sacrifice) and how the Lord is residing within the body of the living entity.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG82_11" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="32" link="BG 8.2" link_text="BG 8.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.2 (1972)|BG 8.2, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna addresses the Lord as Madhusūdana because Kṛṣṇa once killed a demon named Madhu. Actually these questions, which are of the nature of doubts, should not have arisen in the mind of Arjuna, because Arjuna is a Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee. Therefore these doubts are like demons. Since Kṛṣṇa is so expert in killing demons, Arjuna here addresses Him as Madhusūdana so that Kṛṣṇa might kill the demonic doubts that arise in Arjuna's mind.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="BG82_12" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="32" link="BG 8.2" link_text="BG 8.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.2 (1972)|BG 8.2, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Now the word prayāṇa-kāle in this verse is very significant because whatever we do in life will be tested at the time of death. Arjuna is very anxious to know of those who are constantly engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What should be their position at that final moment? At the time of death all the bodily functions are disrupted, and the mind is not in a proper condition. Thus disturbed by the bodily situation, one may not be able to remember the Supreme Lord.</p>
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<div id="BG82_13" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="32" link="BG 8.2" link_text="BG 8.2">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.2 (1972)|BG 8.2, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">If I die immediately, thinking of Your lotus feet, then I am sure that my performance of Your devotional service will become perfect. But if I have to wait for my natural death, then I do not know what will happen, because at that time the bodily functions will be disrupted, my throat will be choked up, and I do not know whether I shall be able to chant Your name. Better let me die immediately." Arjuna questions how a person can fix his mind on Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet at such a time.</p>
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<div id="BG87_14" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="37" link="BG 8.7" link_text="BG 8.7">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.7 (1972)|BG 8.7, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Kṛṣṇa and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.</p>
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<div id="BG87_15" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="37" link="BG 8.7" link_text="BG 8.7">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.7 (1972)|BG 8.7, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">This instruction to Arjuna is very important for all men engaged in material activities. The Lord does not say that one should give up his prescribed duties or engagements. One can continue them and at the same time think of Kṛṣṇa by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. This will free one from material contamination and engage the mind and intelligence in Kṛṣṇa. By chanting Kṛṣṇa's names, one will be transferred to the supreme planet, Kṛṣṇaloka, without a doubt.</p>
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<div id="BG811_16" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="41" link="BG 8.11" link_text="BG 8.11">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.11 (1972)|BG 8.11, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa has recommended to Arjuna the practice of ṣaṭ-cakra-yoga, in which one places the air of life between the eyebrows. Taking it for granted that Arjuna might not know how to practice ṣaṭ-cakra-yoga, the Lord explains the process in the following verses. The Lord says that Brahman, although one without a second, has various manifestations and features. Especially for the impersonalists, the akṣara, or oṁkāra—the syllable oṁ—is identical with Brahman. Kṛṣṇa here explains the impersonal Brahman, into which the renounced order of sages enter.</p>
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<div id="BG827_17" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="57" link="BG 8.27" link_text="BG 8.27">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.27 (1972)|BG 8.27, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna, they are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion.</p>
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<div id="BG827_18" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="57" link="BG 8.27" link_text="BG 8.27">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 8.27 (1972)|BG 8.27, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Kṛṣṇa is here advising Arjuna that he should not be disturbed by the different paths the soul can take when leaving the material world. A devotee of the Supreme Lord should not worry whether he will depart by arrangement or by accident. The devotee should be firmly established in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. He should know that concern over either of these two paths is troublesome.</p>
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<div id="BG91_19" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="59" link="BG 9.1" link_text="BG 9.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 9.1 (1972)|BG 9.1, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.</p>
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<div id="BG91_20" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="59" link="BG 9.1" link_text="BG 9.1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 9.1 (1972)|BG 9.1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The devotees are constantly engaged in the Supreme Lord's service. The Lord understands the mentality and sincerity of a particular living entity who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and gives him the intelligence to understand the science of Kṛṣṇa in the association of devotees. Discussion of Kṛṣṇa is very potent, and if a fortunate person has such association and tries to assimilate the knowledge, then he will surely make advancement toward spiritual realization. Lord Kṛṣṇa, in order to encourage Arjuna to higher and higher elevation in His potent service, describes in this Ninth Chapter matters more confidential than any He has already disclosed.</p>
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<div id="BG911_21" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="69" link="BG 9.11" link_text="BG 9.11">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 9.11 (1972)|BG 9.11, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Material bodies cannot perform the wonderful acts described in previous verses. His body is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge. Although He is not a common man, the foolish deride Him and consider Him to be a man. His body is called here mānuṣīm because He is acting just like a man, a friend of Arjuna's, a politician involved in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. In so many ways He is acting just like an ordinary man, but actually His body is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)—eternal bliss and knowledge absolute.</p>
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<div id="BG911_22" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="69" link="BG 9.11" link_text="BG 9.11">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 9.11 (1972)|BG 9.11, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">He became just like an ordinary child, an ordinary human being. Now, here again it is indicated that the Lord's appearance as an ordinary human being is one of the features of His transcendental body. In the Eleventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated that Arjuna prayed to see Kṛṣṇa's form of four hands (tenaiva rūpeṇa catur-bhujena). After revealing this form, Kṛṣṇa, when petitioned by Arjuna, again assumed His original humanlike form (mānuṣaṁ rūpam). These different features of the Supreme Lord are certainly not those of an ordinary human being.</p>
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<div id="BG915_23" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="73" link="BG 9.15" link_text="BG 9.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 9.15 (1972)|BG 9.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">This verse is the summary of the previous verses. The Lord tells Arjuna that those who are purely in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and do not know anything other than Kṛṣṇa are called mahātmā; yet there are other persons who are not exactly in the position of mahātmā but who worship Kṛṣṇa also, in different ways. Some of them have already been described as the distressed, the financially destitute, the inquisitive, and those who are engaged in the cultivation of knowledge.</p>
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<div id="BG919_24" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="77" link="BG 9.19" link_text="BG 9.19">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 9.19 (1972)|BG 9.19, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O Arjuna, I give heat, and I withhold and send forth the rain. I am immortality, and I am also death personified. Both spirit and matter are in Me.</p>
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<div id="BG933_25" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="91" link="BG 9.33" link_text="BG 9.33">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 9.33 (1972)|BG 9.33, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna was born in a saintly royal family. To him also the Lord says, "Take to My devotional service and come quickly back to Godhead, back home." No one should remain in this temporary world, full as it is with miseries. Everyone should attach himself to the bosom of the Supreme Personality of Godhead so that he can be eternally happy. The devotional service of the Supreme Lord is the only process by which all problems of all classes of men can be solved. Everyone should therefore take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and make his life perfect.</p>
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