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Bhagavad-gita As It Is – Macmillan 1972 Edition

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 01:26 PM PDT

Bhagavad-gita As It Is – Macmillan 1972 Edition
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Preface

Originally I wrote Bhagavad-gītā As It Is in the form in which it is presented now. When this book was first published, the original manuscript was, unfortunately, cut short to less than 400 pages, without illustrations and without explanations for most of the original verses of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. In all of my other books-Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrī Īśopaniṣad, etc.-the system is that I give the original verse, its English transliteration, word-for-word Sanskrit-English equivalents, translations and purports. This makes the book very authentic and scholarly and makes the meaning self-evident. I was not very happy, therefore, when I had to minimize my original manuscript. But later on, when the demand for Bhagavad-gītā As It Is considerably increased, I was requested by many scholars and devotees to present the book in its original form, and Messrs. Macmillan and Co. agreed to publish the complete edition. Thus the present attempt is to offer the original manuscript of this great book of knowledge with full paramparā explanation in order to establish the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement more soundly and progressively.

Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is genuine, historically authorized, natural and transcendental due to its being based on Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. It is gradually becoming the most popular movement in the entire world, especially amongst the younger generation. It is becoming more and more interesting to the older generation also. Older gentlemen are becoming interested, so much so that the fathers and grandfathers of my disciples are encouraging us by becoming life members of our great society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In Los Angeles many fathers and mothers used to come to see me to express their feelings of gratitude for my leading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement throughout the entire world. Some of them said that it is greatly fortunate for the Americans that I have started the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in America. But actually the original father of this movement is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, since it was started a very long time ago but is coming down to human society by disciplic succession. If I have any credit in this connection, it does not belong to me personally, but it is due to my eternal spiritual master, His Divine Grace Om Viṣṇupāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya 108 Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda.

If personally I have any credit in this matter, it is only that I have tried to present Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without adulteration. Before my presentation of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, almost all the English editions of Bhagavad-gītā were introduced to fulfill someone’s personal ambition. But our attempt, in presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, is to present the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Our business is to present the will of Kṛṣṇa, not that of any mundane speculator like the politician, philosopher or scientist, for they have very little knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, despite all their other knowledge. When Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, etc., we, unlike the so-called scholars, do not say that Kṛṣṇa and His inner spirit are different. Kṛṣṇa is absolute, and there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa’s name, Kṛṣṇa’s form, Kṛṣṇa’s quality, Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, etc. This absolute position of Kṛṣṇa is difflcult to understand for any person who is not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa in the paramparā (disciplic succession) system. Generally the so-called scholars, politicians, philosophers, and svāmīs, without perfect knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, try to banish or kill Kṛṣṇa when writing commentary on Bhagavad-gītā. Such unauthorized commentary upon Bhagavad-gītā is known as Māyāvādī-Bhāṣya, and Lord Caitanya has warned us about these unauthorized men. Lord Caitanya clearly says that anyone who tries to understand Bhagavad-gītā from the Māyāvādī point of view will commit a great blunder. The result of such a blunder will be that the misguided student of Bhagavad-gītā will certainly be bewildered on the path of spiritual guidance and will not be able to go back home, back to Godhead.

Our only purpose is to present this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is in order to guide the conditioned student to the same purpose for which Kṛṣṇa descends to this planet once in a day of Brahmā, or every 8,600,000,000 years. This purpose is stated in Bhagavad-gītā, and we have to accept it as it is; otherwise there is no point in trying to understand the Bhagavad-gītā and its speaker, Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa first spoke Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god some hundreds of millions of years ago. We have to accept this fact and thus understand the historical significance of Bhagavad-gītā, without misinterpretation, on the authority of Kṛṣṇa. 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.

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is essential in human society, for it offers the highest perfection of life. How this is so is explained fully in the Bhagavad-gītā. Unfortunately, mundane wranglers have taken advantage of Bhagavad-gītā to push forward their demonic propensities and mislead people regarding right understanding of the simple principles of life. Everyone should know how God or Kṛṣṇa is great, and everyone should know the factual position of the living entities. Everyone should know that a living entity is eternally a servant and that unless one serves Kṛṣṇa one has to serve illusion in different varieties of the three modes of material nature, and thus perpetually one has to wander within the cycle of birth and death; even the so-called liberated Māyāvādī speculator has to undergo this process. This knowledge constitutes a great science, and each and every living being has to hear it for his own interest.

People in general, especially in this age of Kali, are enamored by the external energy of Kṛṣṇa, and they wrongly think that by advancement of material comforts every man will be happy. They have no knowledge that the material or external nature is very strong, for everyone is strongly bound by the stringent laws of material nature. A living entity is happily the part and parcel of the Lord, and thus his natural function is to render immediate service to the Lord. By the spell of illusion one tries to be happy by serving his personal sense gratification in different forms which will never make him happy. Instead of satisfying his own personal material senses, he has to satisfy the senses of the Lord. That is the highest perfection of life. The Lord wants this, and He demands it. One has to understand this central point of Bhagavad-gītā. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching the whole world this central point, and because we are not polluting the theme of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, anyone seriously interested in deriving benefit by studying the Bhagavad-gītā must take help from the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement for practical understanding of Bhagavad-gītā under the direct guidance of the Lord. We hope, therefore, that people will derive the greatest benefit by studying Bhagavad-gītā As It Is as we have presented it here, and if even one man becomes a pure devotee of the Lord we shall consider our attempt a success.

[signed] A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
12 May 1971
Sydney, Australia

Pasted from; PrabhupadaBooks.com

Letter to George Harrison

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 03:48 AM PDT

I can understand by your activities that you are making good spiritual progress, by Krishna’s grace. That is very good news to me. It is not by accident that you are coming gradually to the right point, neither it is very common thing,

Bombay
4th January, 1973

My Dear George,

Please accept my blessings. I was informed by some of my disciples at London, namely, Dhananjaya, Jai Hari, Rebatinandana Swami and others, that you so kindly have sent your car and drive to our place filled-up with fruits and flowers to offer to Radha and Krishna on the Disappearance day of my Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. I am so much pleased that you have thought of Him in that way, thank you very much. Surely you will become blessed by Him more and more.

Yes, if one simply comes to that platform of spontaneous love for the spiritual master, then very quickly he will get love of God, or Krishna, and his all hankerings and lamentations of life will be finished. That is the process. Just like when two friends meet and, if the friend is also with his dog, the gentleman pats his dog first, is it not? So the friend becomes automatically pleased, his dog being patted. I have seen it in your country sometimes when I used to walk in the Regents Park early mornings. So it is like that, the spiritual master is the pet dog of Krishna, and if he is pleased so Krishna is also pleased. That is the process.

bahunam janmanam ante
jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma sudurlabhah (B.G. Vll, 19)

“After many births and deaths, he who is actually wise surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all this is. Such a great soul is very rare.” Mahatma means great soul, and such great soul is sudurlabhah, very rare. Great soul does not mean politician, or scholar, or so-called yogi, or any other so-called big, big man, famous musician, or scientist, or anything like that. No, great soul is one who understands that Vasudevah, Krishna, is the cause of all causes and all that is, and then surrenders unto Him. You are doing that, therefore I say that you are great soul, not because you have got some material name, fame or wealth. But that will vanish at the time of your death, so what good it is? But because you are serving Krishna in devotional loving mood, therefore I say great soul. There is one Bengali proverb that the person who is actually famous is the Devotee who is known by all other Devotees to be great.

So that surrendering to Krishna, that is great soul. Now you may enquire, what is that surrendering? Surrendering to Krishna means to try to please Him only, by our serving mood. Just like if I want to please you, or someone else, they will appreciate me by my serving their desires, that will give them pleasure. So if we want to please Krishna, He is kind enough to give us the formula how to please Him in the Bhagavad-Gita, so if we are intelligent we shall follow the instructions and orders of Krishna as He gives them, that is pleasing Krishna, that is surrender. If I say, Yes, I like rossogullahs, I like this type of incense, I like this and that — so if you bring me rossogullahs, that incense, like that, that will be pleasing to me, will it not? But Krishna is not so rascal as me, He wants only little flower, some water, that’s all, but main thing He wants is our devotion, nothing more:

manmana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo’si me. (B.G. XVlll, 65)

“Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.” So to become the friend and the devotee of Krishna, that is required. Just become the pet dog, that is surrender.
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What is that friendship? At the end of 12th Chapter of Gita Krishna describes that the person who is very dear to Him, or His best friend, is one who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor, who is free from false ego and equal both in happiness and distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and whose mind and intelligence are in agreement with Me… He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress… A devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure, expert, without cares, free from all pains, and who does not strive for some result… One who neither grasps pleasure or grief, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things… One who is equal to friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame and infamy, who is always free from contamination, always silent and satisfied with anything who doesn’t care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and engaged in devotional service…” such person is described by Krishna as “very dear to Me.”

But even more dear than such devotee who is dear to Krishna, one who is “very, very dear to Me,” is “He who follows this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely engages himself with faith, making Me the supreme goal,” and also “one who explains the supreme secret to the devotees,”… or one who is preaching the message of Krishna to the devotees everywhere — such person is most highly regarded by Krishna as His best friend and devotee:

na ca tasman manusyesu
kascin me priya-krttamah
bhavita na ca me tasmad
anyah priyataro bhuvi (B.G. XVlll, 69)

“There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.”

So that will be the supreme perfection of our existence, to come to that point of being best friend, best devotee of Krishna. And how is that? If we become simply engaged in His preaching work, trying with whatever talent or education or experience or material advantages we have got, to spread Krishna Consciousness message all over the world. That is the best friend of Krishna, that is Krishna’s pet dog.

So I am pet dog of my Guru Maharaj, and you have helped him so nicely to push on the message of Lord Krishna or Krishna Consciousness Movement, and I am very much pleased by your serious and sincere attitude, so you will get all the blessings of my Guru Maharaj, that you may know for certain. And if you have ever got any questions or difficulties, I am always your humble servant, you may please write to me wherever I am. I have heard that your good wife, Patty is growing Srimate Tulasi devi there at your house with good success. That is another very auspicious sign. The Tulasi, she will not go to live with anyone non-devotee, and because she is growing so profusely, therefore she is giving you her best favour because you are best devotee, that is to be understood. Now go on with your chanting as much as possible, that will protect you from the attack of Maya, without any doubt. Just like if there is sunshine then where is the question of darkness? So Maya cannot remain in the presence of Krishna, therefore we chant always Hare Krishna to become freed from all attachment to Maya. I know you are very intelligent boy, and I like you very much, you are better than my own son, and I am so much pleased that you are displaying gradually more and more the qualities of becoming Krishna’s pet dog as described above. If you have got any time, you may kindly write to me, or you are free to come to India to live with me for some time, as you like.

Hoping this meets you and your good wife in the best of health and spirits.

Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami