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 Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Chapter 2
Contents of the Gita Summarized
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·
It Is Text 1
Foreword
sanjaya uvaca
Preface
tam tatha krpayavistam
Introduction
asru-purnakuleksanam
Parampara
visidantam idam vakyam
Chapter 1
uvaca madhusudanah
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 Synonyms
Chapter 4
Chapter 5 sanjayah uvaca--Sanjaya said; tam--unto Arjuna; tatha--thus; krpaya--by compa
Chapter 6 avistam--overwhelmed; asru-purna-akula--full of tears; iksanam--eyes; visidanta
Chapter 7 lamenting; idam--these; vakyam--words; uvaca--said; madhu-sudanah--the killer of
Chapter 8 Translation
Chapter 9 Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eye
Chapter 10 tears, Madhusudana, Krsna, spoke the following words.
Chapter 11 Purport
Chapter 12
Chapter 13 Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self
Chapter 14 Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization. The word "Madhusudana" is signific
Chapter 15 this verse. Lord Krsna killed the demon Madhu, and now Arjuna wanted Krsna to kill t
Chapter 16 demon of misunderstanding that had overtaken him in the discharge of his duty. No o
Chapter 17 knows where compassion should be applied. Compassion for the dress of a drowning m
Chapter 18 senseless. A man fallen in the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing
· Home outward dress--the gross material body. One who does not know this and laments for
outward dress is called a sudra, or one who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a ksat
this conduct was not expected from him. Lord Krsna, however, can dissipate the lame
of the ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad-gita was sung by Him. This ch
instructs us in self-realization by an analytical study of the material body and the spiri
explained by the supreme authority, Lord Sri Krsna. This realization is possible when o
works without attachment to fruitive results and is situated in the fixed conception of
self.
Text 2
sri-bhagavan uvaca
kutas tva kasmalam idam
visame samupasthitam
anarya-justam asvargyam
akirti-karam arjuna

Synonyms
sri-bhagavan uvaca--the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; kutah--wherefrom; t
you; kasmalam--dirtiness; idam--this lamentation; visame--in this hour of cris
samupasthitam--arrived; anarya--persons who do not know the value of life; just
practiced by; asvargyam--which does not lead to higher planets; akirti--infamy; kar
cause of; arjuna--O Arjuna.
Translation
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
of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.
 Krsna and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are identical. Therefore Lord Krsna is
to as Bhagavan throughout the Gita. Bhagavan is the ultimate in the Absolute Truth. A
Truth is realized in three phases of understanding, namely Brahman, or the impersona
pervasive spirit; Paramatma, or the localized aspect of the Supreme within the heart o
living entities; and Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna. In
Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.11) this conception of the Absolute Truth is explained thus:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

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paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate

"The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding by the knower of the
Truth, and all of them are identical. Such phases of the Absolute Truth are expressed
Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan."

These three divine aspects can be explained by the example of the sun, which also ha
different aspects, namely the sunshine, the sun's surface and the sun planet itself. On
studies the sunshine only is the preliminary student. One who understands the sun's s
further advanced. And one who can enter into the sun planet is the highest. Ordinary
who are satisfied by simply understanding the sunshine--its universal pervasiveness a
glaring effulgence of its impersonal nature--may be compared to those who can realiz
the Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth. The student who has advanced still furthe
know the sun disc, which is compared to knowledge of the Paramatma feature of the A
Truth. And the student who can enter into the heart of the sun planet is compared to
who realize the personal features of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Therefore, the bhak
the transcendentalists who have realized the Bhagavan feature of the Absolute Truth,
topmost transcendentalists, although all students who are engaged in the study of the
Absolute Truth are engaged in the same subject matter. The sunshine, the sun disc an
inner affairs of the sun planet cannot be separated from one another, and yet the stud
the three different phases are not in the same category.

The Sanskrit word bhagavan is explained by the great authority Parasara Muni, the fa
Vyasadeva. The Supreme Personality who possesses all riches, all strength, all fame,
beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation is called Bhagavan. There are many person
are very rich, very powerful, very beautiful, very famous, very learned, and very muc
detached, but no one can claim that he possesses all riches, all strength, etc., entirely
Krsna can claim this because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No living ent
including Brahma, Lord Siva, or Narayana, can possess opulences as fully as Krsna. Th
it is concluded in the Brahma-samhita by Lord Brahma himself that Lord Krsna is the S
Personality of Godhead. No one is equal to or above Him. He is the primeval Lord, or
Bhagavan, known as Govinda, and He is the supreme cause of all causes:

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam

"There are many personalities possessing the qualities of Bhagavan, but Krsna is the s
because none can excel Him. He is the Supreme Person, and His body is eternal, full o
knowledge and bliss. He is the primeval Lord Govinda and the cause of all causes." (B
samhita 5.1)

In the Bhagavatam also there is a list of many incarnations of the Supreme Personalit
Godhead, but Krsna is described as the original Personality of Godhead, from whom m
many incarnations and Personalities of Godhead expand:

ete camsa-kalah pumsah

krsnas tu bhagavan svayam
indrari-vyakulam lokam-
mrdayanti yuge yuge