Srimad Bhagavad Gita AS IT IS

Bhagavad Gita:   Chapter 6 - Dhyana-yoga

                                 TEXT 8

                         jnana-vijnana-trptatma
                         kuta-stho vijitendriyah
                          yukta ity ucyate yogi
                         sama-lostrasma-kancanah

   WORD FOR WORD
   jnana--by acquired knowledge; vijnana--and realized knowledge; trpta--satisfied; atma--a living entity; kuta-sthah--spiritually situated; vijita-indriyah--sensually controlled; yuktah--competent for self-realization; iti--thus; ucyate--is said; yogi--a mystic; sama--equipoised; lostra--pebbles; asma--stone; kancanah--gold.
 
TRANSLATION
   A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a yogi [or mystic] when he is fully satisfied by virtue of acquired knowledge and realization. Such a person is situated in transcendence and is self-controlled. He sees everything--whether it be pebbles, stones or gold--as the same.
 
PURPORT by HDG Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad:
   Book knowledge without realization of the Supreme Truth is useless. This is stated as follows:

                          atah sri-krsna-namadi
                       na bhaved grahyam indriyaih
                         sevonmukhe hi jihvadau
                        svayam eva sphuraty adah

   "No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Sri Krsna through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him." (Bhakti rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.234)

   This Bhagavad-gita is the science of Krsna consciousness. No one can become Krsna conscious simply by mundane scholarship. One must be fortunate enough to associate with a person who is in pure consciousness. A Krsna conscious person has realized knowledge, by the grace of Krsna, because he is satisfied with pure devotional service. By realized knowledge, one becomes perfect. By transcendental knowledge one can remain steady in his convictions, but by mere academic knowledge one can be easily deluded and confused by apparent contradictions. It is the realized soul who is actually self-controlled, because he is surrendered to Krsna. He is transcendental because he has nothing to do with mundane scholarship. For him mundane scholarship and mental speculation, which may be as good as gold to others, are of no greater value than pebbles or stones.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with permission.

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Prabhupada Uvacha:
(here's some nectar, sometimes it comes in the form of Srutakirti prabhu's diary, other times from Govinda dasi's diary, Hari Sauri prabhu's Transcendental Diary, or sometimes from a letter, or other related source, but still nectar...)

Jesus Christ participated in Jagannatha Ratha Yatra

In his lectures, Prabhupada would always substantiate his statements by quoting from scripture. Unlike other religions, whose followers depended mainly on faith and sentiment, ours rested on a solid philosophy. The preachers would have to be fully equipped to logically present the perfect Vedic conclusions to convince the doubtful American public that we were not just mindless zealots who sang and danced and begged donations. Inspired by Prabhupada's example, we would engage in mock debates, taking various opposing views representing Christianity, impersonalism, and any other philosophy we came into contact with during our day's preaching, and in such debates the Krsna conscious philosophy would always emerge victorious. We were going out eight hours a day, challenging everyone that Krsna consciousness is superior to all other paths. We wanted to impress people that our movement was based on the authority of the timeless Vedic scriptures and not upon the concoctions of some charismatic cult leader-we were determined not to be lumped in with the other Eastern-oriented groups which were becoming popular. To successfully defend our Krsna consciousness movement, each of the devotees was induced to make a scholarly study of all of Srila Prabhupada's books, and after one of the women made book bags so that each preacher could carry his personal copy of Bhagavad-gita with him on sankirtana, it was not uncommon to see devotees on the street with Gitas in hand, quoting verses to interested inquirers.

Often, while preaching, we were asked to state our position regarding Lord Jesus Christ. Had we accepted Jesus as the true Savior? they wanted to know. If the answer was no, then we were lumped in with all the other devil worshipers who were going to burn in the eternal hell. Of course we accepted Jesus, but not exactly in the way the Christians did. Previously I had come across a book entitled The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ, which de-scribed the activities of Jesus between his twelfth and thirtieth years, an important portion of his life noticeably omitted from the New Testament. Because the book described how Jesus had received the major part of his religious training in India, I thought it worthwhile to bring it to Srila Prabhupada's attention, and out of curiosity, Srila Prabhupada had me purchase a copy. For a number of afternoons during his last visit to Los Angeles, he would hear with interest as I read the narration of how Jesus learned the art of hearing from the yogis in Benares, traveled to various holy places, and even participated in the Ratha-yatra festival in Jagannatha Puri. The author, however, stated that Jesus did not approve of Deity worship, considering Lord Jagannatha to be an idol. Though much of the book seemed to substantiate our Krsna consciousness tradition, this point made Prabhupada skeptical. What was the author's parampara? Prabhupada challenged. I explained that the author supposedly obtained his information from the "akashic records." Prabhupada was not satisfied. He also questioned why so much attention was given to Jesus' healing the physical illnesses of the people. A pure devotee is not very much concerned to treat the bodily diseases, but teaches his followers how to transcend the bodily condition altogether by practicing devotional service. Although a pure devotee is empowered by Krsna, and as such is the most powerful of yogis, he does not take advantage of this by performing miracles, but prefers to convince his disciples through instructions and by his personal example of devotional service. In the final analysis, Prabhupada's conclusion was that since the book's authenticity could not be established, it was not therefore very important. Nevertheless, while giving his inauguration address at the Ratha-yatra festival in San Francisco, he described how two thousand years earlier Lord Jesus Christ had also participated in a similar festival.

Since the issue of Jesus repeatedly came up when we preached, I requested Prabhupada to clarify to what extent we should explain Jesus in the context of our philosophy. Prabhupada's advice to me was that while accepting Jesus as a great devotee and a son of God, it was better that we avoid any detailed discussions about other religions. In a purport of the Caitanya-caritamrta, Srila Prabhupada described the teachings of these religions as yavana-sastra, the scriptures of the meat-eaters. Usually, the authority of their teachings was not clearly defined, and neither had enough care been exercised in preserving their "original" versions. As a result there was widespread confusion among the leaders of various religious disciplines about the best way to interpret the teachings they had respectively inherited. Fortunately, we had no such problems. Even after five thousand years, the Krsna conscious philosophy remained perfectly clear and intact due to the process of unbroken disciplic succession. The vedas were the source of all knowledge, and Srimad-Bhagavatam the postgraduate religious treatise. Therefore, our discussing in detail these other religious traditions had little value, as much as lighting a candle in broad daylight was of no use. Occasionally we might cite some stray extract, but just to support our own views, as Prabhupada had done during his Ratha-yatra speech.

- From the "Servant of the Servant" by HH Tamala Krsna Goswami

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"One Should Spend All Energy"

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Prabhupada: Now Lord Sri Krsna is just trying to place Arjuna in the platform of working on pure consciousness. The... We have already discussed for so many days that we are not this dull body, but we are consciousness. Now, some way or other, we are in contact with this matter. Therefore our freedom is checked. As spiritual beings, we are free, free to act, free to have anything, pure, no contamination, no disease, no birth, no death, no old age, and besides that, we have got many, many other qualifications in our spiritual life. So unfortunately, because we are in contact with this matter, we are hampered in so many ways. This we should understand, and this is the opportunity; this human life is the only opportunity. If we miss this opportunity, then it may be that in our next life we may not have again this nice, civilized human form of life according to our karma. But one thing is sure. You'll be glad to hear that once begun, this process of spiritual realization, one is guaranteed to have next life as human being. You'll find in the Bhagavad-gita that sucinam srimatam gehe yoga-bhrasto 'bhijayate [Bg. 6.41]. You'll find in course of this discussion with Arjuna and Krsna when Krsna will describe about the yoga system, how to act it. This is also yoga system, yoga-sthah kuru karmani. This is karma-yoga. This is karma-yoga.

So any yoga, either karma-yoga or dhyana-yoga or jnana-yoga, any system of yoga, once begun in this life, that will continue. That will continue. Yoga-sthah kuru karmani. The Bhagavata says, Srimad-Bhagavata says, tyaktva sva-dharmam caranambujam harer bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi yatra kva vabhadram abhud amusya kim ko vartha aptah, aptah abhajatam sva-dharmatah [SB 1.5.17]. This is speech by Narada to his disciple, Srila Vyasadeva, that "You should try, people, to connect them in spiritual life, in conducting spiritual life. It doesn't matter even if he fails to complete the course; still, he's not loser. Still, he's not loser. He..." The whole system of Vedic knowledge, especially the Krsna philosophy... Krsna philosophy -- the whole philosophy. Vedic philosophy means Krsna philosophy. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg. 15.15]. The all Vedic knowledge, all Vedic wisdom means to understand Krsna philosophy. That's all. Nothing else. The Krsna philosophy in different ways all over the world, they have been described according to the time, place and people, but you must know the whole thing is Krsna philosophy. Krsna philosophy is... When we speak of Krsna, you don't take this word, Sanskrit word, Krsna, in a sectarian meaning. Krsna means the Supreme, the highest pleasure, highest pleasure.

So now, yoga-sthah. In the previous verse we have been advised to work, continue work, being situated in yoga. And in the next sloka Lord Krsna says,

continued.......................