Foreword (to the Hindi edition)

Praying to Śrī Guru, the Vaiṣṇavas and Bhagavān and begging for their merciful blessings, I proceed to write the foreword to this present edition of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. In undertaking such an endeavour, the causeless mercy and auspicious blessings of the disciplic succession of spiritual masters in the line of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura are our sole aid and shelter.

Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti published its first edition of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā on 6 September 1977, by the auspicious desire and blessings of my Śrī Gurupāda-padma, nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṃ viṣṇupāda aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. That edition included the Gītā-bhūṣaṇa commentary of the brilliant sun among vedānta-ācāryas, Śrī Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇapāda, as well as an elucidating translation entitled Vidvad-rañjana by nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṃ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Following that, on 3 October 1990, Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti published an abridged pocket edition, consisting of only the Sanskrit verses and their Bengali translations.

Several editions of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā were published under the editorship of jagad-guru nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṃ viṣṇupāda aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda. Some included Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇapāda’s Gītā-bhūṣaṇa commentary, some Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s Sārārtha-varṣiṇī commentary, and some Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s translations entitled Vidvad-rañjana and Rasika-rañjana. Later, various editions were published in Bengali by different maṭhas, temples and missions in the line of Śrīla Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. An Assamese edition was published in Tejapura, Assam, and some English editions were published in Calcutta and Tamil Nadu. A Hindi edition of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā with the commentaries of Śrīla Cakravartī Ṭhākura or Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇapāda had not yet been made available. Consequently, the Hindi-speaking populace both in India and the whole world was bereft of such an edition of this jewel-like book.

It is for this reason that my Godbrother pūjyapāda Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja, the vice-president of Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti and general editor of its publications, is publishing this present edition of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā with its Sanskrit verses, an anvaya (word-for-word), verse translations and the Sārārtha-varṣiṇī commentary of the great preceptor, śrī-gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-ācārya Śrī Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. He is also presenting a simple, comprehensible commentary known as Sārārtha-varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti. Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti will remain eternally grateful and indebted to him for this. By deeply studying this book, the virtuous, intelligent readers will certainly receive supreme benefit and bliss.

At the end of his preface to the Gītā, jagad-guru oṃ viṣṇupāda Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura comments,

Unfortunately, most of the commentaries and Bengali translations of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā published to date are written by the advocates of the doctrine that the living entity and the Supreme Lord are non-different in every respect (abheda-brahmavāda). Only a few publications contain commentaries and translations that are in line with pure devotion to Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The commentaries of Śaṅkarācārya and Ānandagiri are full of absolute monism (abheda-brahmavāda), or the doctrine that the living entity is non-different from the Absolute Truth. The commentary of Śrīla Śrīdhāra Svāmī, though not full of brahmavāda, consists of a scent of the Rudra sampradāya’s doctrine of purified non-dualism (sāmpradāyika śuddhādvaita). Some statements in the commentary of Śrī Madhusūdana Sarasvatīpāda support bhakti, but its final instruction and essence expound abheda-brahmavāda, or monistic liberation. The commentary of Śrī Rāmānujācārya is completely in accordance with bhakti, but those who taste pure bhakti-rasa cannot derive ever-increasing bliss from it.

In our country, no commentary was available that follows Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s philosophy of inconceivable oneness and difference (acintya-bhedābheda). Therefore, to facilitate the pure devotees’ relish of rasa and to benefit faithful people, I took great pains to procure the commentary of Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu’s devout follower, the most erudite Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Mahāśaya, the crest jewel among devotees.

I have now published the Gītā with this commentary as well as with a Bengali verse translation named Rasika-rañjana. The commentary, written by Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Prabhu, which also follows the teachings of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, consists mainly of philosophical conceptions. Śrīla Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s commentary, however, is full of both philosophical conceptions and the mellow of pure love (prīti-rasa). I have published the commentary of Śrīla Cakravartī Ṭhākura, because his conceptions are easy to comprehend and his Sanskrit language straightforward. The general reader will therefore be able to understand it easily.

Jagad-guru Śrīla Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda comments,

Even though there are countless expositions, commentaries, and translations of this book in many languages, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura still composed his Sārārtha-varṣiṇī commentary, which follows the Śrī Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava conceptions. He did this especially for the rasika Gauḍīya devotees. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura is fourth in disciplic succession from Śrīla Narottama Ṭhākura and is the guardian and preceptor of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava dharma in its intermediate period.

This verse about him is most famous:

viśvasya nātha-rūpo’sau
bhakti-vartma-pradarśanāt
bhakta-cakre vartitatvāt
cakravarty ākhyayābhavat

He is known by the name Viśvanātha, the Lord of the uni-verse, because he indicates the path of bhakti, and he is called Cakravartī (he around whom a circle, or assembly, turns) because he always remains in the assembly (cakra) of pure devotees.

All Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas know something about Śrīla Cakravartī Ṭhākura. In particular, those who study the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, discuss the Gītā and study, teach and deliberate upon the Gauḍīya scriptures will surely, to some extent, be aware of his transcendental brilliance. Few authors have appeared among the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava preceptors who have written Sanskrit works and commentaries as extensively as Śrīla Cakravartī Mahāśaya.

In the year 1706, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura was very old. He sent his student, gauḍīya-vedāntācārya, the highly erudite Śrīpāda Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, and his disciple, Śrī Kṛṣṇadeva, to a philosophical assembly in Jaipur. Great misfortune had befallen the members of the Gauḍīya sampradāya there because they had forgotten their sāmpradāyika identity and had disregarded Vaiṣṇava Vedānta. To dissipate that misfortune, Śrīpāda Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa composed an independent treatise on the Brahma-sūtra in accordance with the thoughts of the Śrī Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya. In this way he rendered a most distinguished service to the sampradāya, which greatly pleased Śrīla Cakravartī Ṭhākura. This was the second of Śrīla Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s great accomplishments in preaching Vaiṣṇava dharma. It is also a shining example of an approved rectification performed by a non-seminal brāhmaṇa and Vaiṣṇava ācārya.

Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā consists of eighteen chapters, which comprise Chapters Twenty-five to Forty-two of the Bhīṣma-parva of Mahābhārata. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s friend Arjuna is the listener, and Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the speaker. Before reading Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, it is of utmost importance to know the mutual relationship between Arjuna and Bhagavān and to understand Arjuna’s conception of Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord. Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā is not a ‘scripture’ born of imagination, so there is no need of any interpretation of it that is rooted in mundane speculation. Śrī Arjuna, Sañjaya, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Janamejaya and the sages headed by Śaunaka never took the Gītā to be a metaphor. To say that Sañjaya represents divine vision, that Dhṛtarāṣṭra represents the blind mind, and that both are situated in the one body is simply the result of a sprouting imagination. Conversely, it is natural for a mind that is controlled by the soul to have divine vision, for that mind is capable of controlling the senses.

Generally, people understand Gītā to refer to Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, which was instructed by Śrī Kṛṣṇa to His friend Arjuna. Modern-day bookstores, however, contain titles such as Gītā-samanvaya and Gītā-granthāvalī, promoting them as great works that embody the very essence of scriptural knowledge. Why is there objection to accepting the excellence and antiquity of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, which is spoken by Śrī Bhagavān and which has been adorned with such superlative titles as sarva-jñāna-prayojikā (that which employs all knowledge), sarva-śāstra-sārabhūtā (the essence of all scriptures) and tattvārtha-mañjarī (the flower bud of imports on the Absolute Truth)? In the name of showing individuality and liberality, impersonalists, monists, polytheists and those who endeavour to synthesize spirit and matter, use terms such as samanvaya (harmonization, or synthesis) that shamelessly profess everything to be equal. Such persons are forever busy demonstrating their liberal morality through concocted commentaries that endeavour to offer some speculative form of adjustment on Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other scriptures.

At present, the word samanvaya is misused and misinterpreted. True harmony can only be found in Bhagavān. Fabricated conceptions can never be equated with harmony. Samanvaya-bhāṣyas (commentaries that claim to present a harmonious conclusion) on the Gītā are now found in shops and bookstores, but it is neither concord (anvaya) nor synthesis (samanvaya) to say that the world is Parameśvara (the Supreme Lord) or that Parameśvara is the world. This infectious disease of the doctrine of ‘harmony’ is evident in many of the so-called educated elite. It must be opposed and refuted.

Those who pride themselves on their Western education avoid placing their faith in the scripture and investigating true knowledge through it. Rather, they resort to various types of mundane logic to satisfy their tendency for inquiry. Atheistic historians and researchers analyze a scripture using the latest research methods in order to determine its time of composition. Because they fail to accept its factual substance, they are unable to reconcile aspects of the scriptures that contradict their conclusions. Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā is a part of Mahābhārata, yet they say it was added at a later date. This kind of research does not spread the glories of the eternal distinguished culture of sages who have seen the Truth (ārya-ṛṣis); rather, it only confirms the researchers’ indifference and disdain toward them. It is not a quest for immortal nectar but the spitting of poison.

Modern educated people fill their speeches and writings with the word ‘sectarian’ so as to boast their liberality. They forget that the glory of ārya-dharma, which is eternal, is sectarianism in its most pure sense. The current of true conceptions that is received through the guru-paramparā is termed sampradāya, or a disciplic lineage that completely and properly bestows the Supreme Truth. This current has been flowing since time immemorial in the theistic society of India.

The ārya-ṛṣis firmly established the system of sampradāya on a solid, scientific foundation. The attempt to destroy it began with a fierce attack by those who adhered to atheistic communism, which came from the West. The root cause of such calamity is an erroneous understanding of the word ‘sectarian’. Now, many fabricated, narrow-minded sects loudly voice their opposition to the bona fide sampradāyas. Unable to pursue the Absolute Truth, they take shelter of opportunism, thinking the frantic dance of their minds to be liberality, or public opinion. Consequently, they are forced to become impersonalists, worshipping brahma, the featureless aspect of the Absolute Truth, which is devoid of all potency. The plot to prove that Śrī Bhagavān, the Supreme Absolute Truth, is featureless is now termed non-sectarian, or asāmpradāyika.

It is fashionable to write so-called spiritual or non-sectarian commentaries on the Gītā and other scriptures. Regrettably, however, in today’s society, non-sectarianism refers to willfulness, opportunism, and lack of inhibition. One should understand that those who reject the realized truths of the ārya-ṛṣis–those who know past, present and future–and the eternally perfect, exalted personalities, and who assert that their doctrines are spoiled by sectarianism, are in fact attached to impersonalism and materialism. Such people label as non-sectarian the commentaries of political leaders, fruitive workers, empiric philosophers and mystics.

To understand the actual conclusions of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā and to philosophically deliberate upon them, one must take shelter of the instructions of the previous ācāryas and follow those instructions. One will then be able to perceive and realize the inner intention of the Gītā. A subject becomes easy to understand if the author himself gives an explanation, or commentary, otherwise one’s own understanding of the subject will naturally be tainted by the four defects: error, illusion, imperfect sense perception and deception. Consequently, one cannot possibly understand the intention of the Gītā unless one takes shelter of the realized truth imparted by the sages who know past, present and future, and the previous ācāryas within the disciplic succession, who are devoid of such faults. There is no other way.

I shall try to present some of the truths that my most worshipful spiritual master, Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, spoke on the subject of the Gītā.

The purpose of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā is not to promote diplomacy or the ethics of a kṣatriya, but rather to teach complete surrender to the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the utmost Supreme Absolute Truth.

Arjuna, is the cause of the Gītā’s appearance and he can never be bewildered. His bewilderment is an act, solely to facilitate the appearance of the Gītā, for he is the eternal associate and friend of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Vyāsadeva says, “pārtho vatsaḥ” (Gītā-mahātmya 6). From this we can understand that the milk of the Gītā was not only intended for Arjuna, who is here compared to a calf.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, “mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja–take exclusive shelter of Me” (Gītā 18.66). Here, the word ekam indicates that the sole intention of the Gītā is to help one surrender to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the possessor of all potency.

In the Gītā (9.31), we see that Bhagavān makes His devotee, Arjuna, declare that His devotee never perishes: kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ pranaśyati. The purport is that Bhagavān always protects the vows of His devotees in every way, while He slackens His own vows simply upon hearing His devotee’s prayers of distress. Therefore, out of His bhakta-vātsalya (affection for His devotees) Bhagavān proclaims His devotee’s victory.

In the Gītā (4.9) He says, “My birth and activities are divine and full of inconceivable potency.”

The Vedas have emanated from Īśvara’s breathing, but the words of Śrī Gītā have emanated from His lips. The Gītā is therefore as transcendental as the Vedas. In this regard, there is no scope for argument.

In the Gītā (9.11) Bhagavān tells Arjuna, “Foolish people, who are bewildered by māyā, consider My transcendental form of eternality, knowledge and bliss to be ordinary, like a perishable human body, and thus they slight Me.” Something that is devoid of form or features is never worshipable. Moreover, absence of features does not constitute transcendence. The forms of Bhagavān and the Vaiṣṇavas are eternal, all cognizant and blissful. They cannot be perceived by the mundane senses and are completely pure and transcendental. They are nirguṇa-tattva, completely free from the material modes of nature.

Jagad-guru Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda writes in the introduction to his commentary:

Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, which consists of eighteen chapters, is celebrated as an Upaniṣad. There are countless expositions, commentaries and translations of this book in many languages. The commentaries of Śrīla Śrīdhara, Śrī Rāmānuja, Śrī Madhva, Śrī Viśvanātha and Śrī Baladeva are most prominent. Those who have taken shelter of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas’ most worshipful Śrī Caitanyadeva are very attached to the commentaries that are approved by His associates. Those who are born in a seminal line of brāhmaṇas follow the smārta-dharma as propounded by Manu and others. The Gītā, however, delineates the system of determining caste according to character, a system that opposes this doctrine. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, “Those whose intelligence is plundered by the desire to be freed from distress worship the demigods according to appropriate regulations, being subject to their own natures.” Why should we take shelter of demigods and not of Adhokṣaja, Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is beyond the purview of the material senses? If one abandons the worship of the transcendental Cupid, Bhagavān Śrī Viṣṇu, and worships others instead, one’s human intelligence is both lost and destroyed. Until one is free from all desires, one cannot worship Kāmadeva (the transcendental ever-fresh Cupid).

In his introduction to his Rasika-rañjana commentary on the Gītā, jagad-guru Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes,

The most compassionate Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, whose words always hold true, spoke Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, which is an investigation into the essential import of all the Vedas, to His friend, Arjuna, to deliver the entire world. These instructions of the Gītā are the only means to deliver the world.

The Gītā is therefore the crown jewel of all Upaniṣads. The Upaniṣads, the Brahma-sūtra and Bhagavad-gītā are all pure devotional scriptures (śuddha-bhakti-śāstras). Those who possess a transcendental nature will certainly take the renounced order upon hearing the Gītā, just as Uddhava did. The deep import of the Gītā is that a person’s eligibility follows in the wake of his nature. Without the proper eligibility, the conditioned soul cannot possibly attain Bhagavān. Fruitive action (karma), knowledge (jñāna) and devotion (bhakti) have different natures, and thus their identities are also different. For this reason, after due deliberation, the Vedas have been divided into three divisions: karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa and bhakti-kāṇḍa. One’s karma transforms into bhakti once one surpasses the desire to attain religiosity (dharma), wealth (artha), sense gratification (kāma) and liberation (mokṣa) and instead finds joy in the service of Bhagavān. Bhakti is therefore the final aim of the living entity’s prescribed duty and also its fruit.

Bhakti is a very profound principle; it is the very life of jñāna and karma and it fulfils their purpose. That is why the discussion on bhakti has been placed in the middle six chapters. By this we see that supremely pure bhakti is the final goal of the Gītā. The verse, sarva-dharmān parityajya, found at the end of the Gītā (18.66), establishes that surrender to Bhagavān is the most confidential instruction.

To understand the actual philosophical conclusions and lessons of the Gītā, from its auspicious beginning until its final conclusion, we must first surrender to a spiritual master in the line of the foremost Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, because the pure words and teachings of transcendental and eternally perfect personalities are free from error, illusion and so on. In fact, they are our only welfare. The neem, mango, tamarind and bel (wood-apple) trees on the banks of the pure Bhāgavatī Gaṅgā grow bitter, sweet and sour fruit, even though they are nourished by the same water. Similarly, due to their natures, the living entities who are enchanted by māyā, the deluding material energy, preach different conceptions after studying the same scripture.

One may ask why Bhagavān instructs His dear friend Arjuna to practise karma, jñāna, yoga and so forth if they are not the best sādhana. The answer is that Śrī Kṛṣṇa also states in the Gītā that without bhakti to Śrī Bhagavān, all endeavours in karma, jñāna and yoga are fruitless and meaningless. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has instructed that worship in anugatya of the gopīs of Vraja (ie. following in their footsteps), is the highest type of worship. “Aiśvarya śithila preme nahi mora prīta –love that is enfeebled by aiśvarya-jñāna does not satisfy Me” (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 3.16). This is Kṛṣṇa’s hidden intention. In the verse sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the source of all divine incarnations, has revealed and proclaimed His sovereignty over the material energy and the demigods, and He has also proclaimed Himself to be the supreme object of worship for all. He is the basis and shelter of the empiric philosophers’ worshipful brahma, the Lord’s featureless aspect. He is the non-dual Truth (advaya-jñāna-tattva) and He is the one true object (vāstava-vastu)–that is, He is one without a second.

The first six chapters of the Gītā discuss karma-yoga, the path of spiritual advancement where the fruit of one’s pious action is offered to the Lord. The last six discuss jñāna-yoga, the path of spiritual advancement through transcendental knowledge. And the middle six discuss bhakti-yoga, the path of loving devotion to the Supreme Lord (Bhagavān). From this we understand that Bhakti Mahā-devī is the supreme shelter of karma and jñāna. Bhakti Mahā-devī was once established as one who gives life to jñāna, vairāgya and so on, in a gathering [in which Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was discussed] at Māyātīrtha Haridvara, the best among the seven holy places. Without the mercy of Bhakti-devī, neither karma, jñāna, yoga nor any other process can give the desired result. This is specifically evidenced in the following verses: bhaktyā mām abhijānānti (Gītā 18.55), bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā (Gītā 8.22), bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.14.21), bhaktyā tuṣyati kevalam, bhaktir evainaṃ nayati (Māthara Śruti), and na sādhayati māṃ yogo (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.14.20).

In the authoritative scriptures, the performance of supremely pure, exclusive devotion (known as viśuddhā-, ananyā- or kevalā-bhakti) is said to be the final instruction for the living entity. From the verse, satataṃ kīrtayanto mām (Gītā 9.14), we understand that worship of Bhagavān is the performance of the nine kinds of devotion, headed by chanting the name, form, qualities and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta states, “aprākṛta vastu nahe prākṛta gocara – transcendental objects are beyond mundane knowledge and the material senses” (Madhya-līlā 9.195). Pride and scholarship are defeated in such an attempt. Bhagavān’s mercy can only be attained by surrender to Him and by offering Him one’s very self. Many people who are intoxicated by their mundane scholarship and pride try to study and teach the meaning of the scriptures, but they only cheat themselves and others. Śrī Kṛṣṇa spoke the verse teṣāṃ satata-yuktānām (Gītā 10.10), for this reason.

The fundamental principle in regard to Śrī Bhagavān (bhagavat-tattva) is realized through buddhi-yoga (pure intelligence directed towards the attainment of the Lord), which is bestowed by Bhagavān. Those who try to understand the import of scripture while faithfully taking shelter of Śrī Hari, Guru and Vaiṣṇavas, very easily cross over the ocean of material existence and attain transcendental devotion to the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Performance of such devotion is the qualification for prema, pure love of God. Thus the words sarva-guhyatama (most confidential), determine the supreme subject matter of the Gītā, which is prema, the fifth goal of life and the final stage of sādhana-bhajana.

Through this comparative discussion of the Gītā, Śrī Bhagavān has established the supremacy of bhakti-yoga. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu–who delivers the people in the age of Kali–along with His dear associates, has shown the path to search for the most worshipful Absolute Truth. They have also shown the pinnacle of sādhana-bhajana. In this way they have bestowed incalculable benefit upon us. This is their causeless, heartfelt compassion upon all living entities. Throughout the entire world, their conception is therefore supported by wise men and scholars alike.

Śrī Guru-Vaiṣṇava dāsānudāsa–
the servant of the servants
of Śrī Guru and the Vaiṣṇavas,

Tridaṇḍibhikṣu
Śrī Bhaktivedānta Vāmana
Vyāsa-pūjā of Śrī Śrī Gurupāda-padma
25 February 1997