:: Chapter 2 :: Contents of the Gita Summarized ::

Text 1

sanjaya uvaca

tam tatha krpayavistam

asru-purnakuleksanam

visidantam idam vakyam

uvaca madhusudanah

Synonyms

sanjayah uvaca--Sanjaya said; tam--unto Arjuna; tatha--thus; krpaya--by compassion; avistam--overwhelmed; asru-purna-akula--full of tears; iksanam--eyes; visidantam--lamenting; idam--these; vakyam--words; uvaca--said; madhu-sudanah--the killer of Madhu.

Translation

Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusudana, Krisna, spoke the following words.

Purport

Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization. The word "Madhusudana" is significant in this verse. Lord Krisna killed the demon Madhu, and now Arjuna wanted Krisna 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. A man fallen in the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing his outward dress--the gross material body. One who does not know this and laments for the outward dress is called a sudra, or one who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a ksatriya, and this conduct was not expected from him. Lord Krisna, however, can dissipate the lamentation of the ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad-Gita was sung by Him. This chapter instructs us in self-realization by an analytical study of the material body and the spirit soul, as explained by the supreme authority, Lord Sri Krisna. This realization is possible when one works without attachment tofurtive results and is situated in the fixed conception of the real 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; tva--unto you; kasmalam--dirtiness; idam--this lamentation; visame--in this hour of crisis; samupasthitam--arrived; anarya--persons who do not know the value of life; justam--practiced by; asvargyam--which does not lead to higher planets; akirti--infamy; karam--the 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 value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.

Purport

Krisna and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are identical. Therefore Lord Krisna is referred to as Bhagavan throughout the Gita. Bhagavan is the ultimate in the Absolute Truth. Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding, namely Brahman, or the impersonal all-pervasive spirit; Paramatma, or the localized aspect of the Supreme within the heart of all living entities; and Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krisna. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.11) this conception of the Absolute Truth is explained thus:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvam yaj jnanam advayam

brahmeti paramatmeti

bhagavan iti sabdyate

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

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

The Sanskrit word bhagavan is explained by the great authority Parasara Muni, the father of Vyasadeva. The Supreme Personality who possesses all riches, all strength, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation is called Bhagavan. There are many persons who are very rich, very powerful, very beautiful, very famous, very learned, and very much detached, but no one can claim that he possesses all riches, all strength, etc., entirely. Only Krisna can claim this because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No living entity, including Brahma, Lord Siva, or Narayana, can possess opulences as fully as Krisna. Therefore it is concluded in the Brahma-samhita by Lord Brahma himself that Lord Krisna is the Supreme 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 Krisnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanam

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

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

ete camsa-kalah pumsah

Krisnas tu bhagavan svayam

indrari-vyakulam lokam-

mrdayanti yuge yuge

"All the lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted herewith are either plenary expansions or parts of the plenary expansions of the Supreme Godhead, but Krisna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself." (SB. 1.3.28)

Therefore, Krisna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, the source of both the Supersoul and the impersonal Brahman.

In the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Arjuna's lamentation for his kinsmen is certainly unbecoming, and therefore. Krisna expressed His surprise with the word kutah, "wherefrom." Such impurities were never expected from a person belonging to the civilized class of men known as Aryans. The word Aryan is applicable to persons who know the value of life and have a civilization based on spiritual realization. Persons who are led by the material conception of life do not know that the aim of life is realization of the Absolute Truth, Visnu, or Bhagavan, 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-Aryans. Although Arjuna was a ksatriya, he was deviating from his prescribed duties by declining to fight. This act of cowardice is described as befitting the non-Aryans. 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 Krisna did not approve of the so-called compassion of Arjuna for his kinsmen.