EVEN MAHA VISHNU EMINATES FROM LORD KRSNA THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD
HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
ONE STROKE WILL DO IT
If we simply worship the original person (adipurusam), we need not fear being misled by anyone. Sridhara Svami, the original commentator on Srimad Bhagavatam, explains that one can reach the perfection of life simply by devotional service (kevalaya bhaktya); one need not be dependent on any other process. Sukadeva Gosvomi says that one can put an end to material life by ONE STROKE (kevalaya). There is no need to first undergo severe penance and austerity, practice celibacy, control the mind and the senses,
give in charity, perform great sacrifices and become very truthful and clean. Simply by one stroke—by accepting Krsna consciousness—one immediately rises to the highest position. By just taking to Krsna consciousness, one develops all transcendental qualifications. The goldsmith uses a small hammer and taps the gold many times, but the blacksmith uses a large hammer and with one stroke his job is finished. This is the blacksmith’s method: we take the big hammer of bhakti-yoga and finish all material life. There is no need to undergo the many lesser disciplines, nor to follow any other process.
In actuality, there is no possibility of even following the other Vedic processes to perfection. For instance, the hatha-yoga process would say: “You have to become a strict brahmacari and sit in the forest with your body at a right angle to the ground, pressing your nose with your finger for six months.” Who could follow such an instruction? Since such a method is not practical in this present age, the goldsmith method has to be discarded. The solution is to take the blacksmith’s hammer of Krsna consciousness and finish off all sinful reactions immediately.
By devotional service one has to become vasudevaparayana, a devotee of Lord Vasudeva or Lord Krsna. In other words, we have to learn how to become lovers of Vasudeva. If the world takes up this Krsna consciousness, the planet is certain to be peaceful. Now the earth is quickly becoming a hellish planet, and if this Krsna consciousness is not taken up, this hellish condition will progress despite all advances in education and economic development. Therefore those who are thoughtful should take this movement very seriously and try to understand its value. It is not something manufactured by one man or a group of disciples. It is authoritative and age-old, based on the Vedic literatures which date back thousands of years.
Niharam iva bhaskarah: bhaskarah, refers to the sun. The sun immediately dissipates mist or fog as well as darkness. As stated before, we should try to make the sun of Krsna rise within our hearts. In the. Caitanyacaritamrta also it is stated that Krsna is like the sun and that maya, the illusory energy, is darkness. Yahan krsna, tahan nahi mayara adhikara: As soon as the sun of Krsna is present, the darkness of maya immediately disappears. Without following this process, it is very difficult to overcome the ocean of darkness, maya If we simply teach people to surrender unto Krsna God, all the fog and mist of illusion will
20. For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
21. 0 Partha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, unborn, eternal and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?
PURPORT
Everything has its utility, and a man who is situated in complete knowledge knows how and where to apply a thing for its proper utility. Similarly, violence also has its use, and how to apply violence rests with the person in knowledge. Although the justice of the peace awards capital punishment to a person condemned for murder, the justice of the peace cannot be blamed because he orders violence to another according to the codes of justice. In the Manu-samhit&, the lawbook for mankind, it is supported that a murderer should be condemned to death so that in his next life he will not have to suffer for the great sin he has committed.
28 Bhagavad-giti As It Is [Ch. 2
Therefore, the king's punishment of hanging a murderer is actually beneficial. Similarly, when Krsna orders fighting, it must be concluded that violence is for supreme justice, and, as such, Arjuna should follow the instruction, knowing well that such violence, committed in the act of fighting for justice, is not at all violence because, at any rate, the man, or rather the soul, cannot be killed. For the administration of justice, so-called violence is permitted. A surgical operation is not meant to kill the patient, but is for his cure. Therefore, the fighting to be executed by Arjuna, under the instruction of Krs.n.a, is with full knowledge, and so there is no possibility of sinful reaction.
22. As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
PURPORT
Change of body by the atomic individual soul is an accepted fact. Even some of th,e modern scientists who do not believe in the existence of the soul, but at the same time cannot explain the source of energy from the heart, have to accept continuous changes of body which appear from childhood to boyhood, and from boyhood to youth, and again from youth to old age. From old age, the change is transferred to another body. This has already been explained in the previous verse.
Transference of the atomic individual soul to another body is also made possible by the grace of the Supersoul. The Supersoul fulfills the desire of the soul as one friend fulfills the desire of another. The Vedas, such as the Mundaka Upanisad, as well as the Svetas-vatara Upanisad, confirm this concept of two kinds of souls by comparing them to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird is simply watching his friend. Of these two birds, although they are the same in quality, one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing his activities. Krs. na is the witnessing bird, and Arjuna is the eating bird. Although they are friends, one is still the master, and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one's changing his position from one tree to another, or from one body to another. The j~va soul is struggling very
Text 25] Contents of the Gita Summarized 29
hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master, as Arjuna has agreed to do by voluntary surrender unto Krsna for instruction, the subordinate bird immediately b,ecomes free froni all lamentations. Both the Kotha Upanisad and the Svetas-vatara Upanisad confirm this statement.
23. The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
24. This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.
25. It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable, immutable and unchangeable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.
PURPORT
As described above, the magnitude of the soul is such that, for our material calculation, he cannot be detected even by the most powerful microscope; therefore, he is invisible. As far as his existence is concerned, no one can establish his experimental stability beyond the proof of sruti, or Vedic wisdom. We have to accept this truth because there is no other source for understanding the existence of the soul, although it is a fact by perception.
There are many things we have to accept solely on grounds of superior auth~ority. No one can deny the existence of his father, based upon the authority of his mother; there is no other source of understanding the identity of the father except on the authority of the mother. Similarly, there is no other source of understanding the soul except by studying the Vedas. In other words, the soul is inconceivable to human experimental knowledge. The soul is consciousness and conscious-that also is the statement of the Vedas, and we have to accept that. Unlike the bodily changes, there is no change for the soul. As eternally unchangeable, he always remains atomic in comparison to the infinite Supreme Soul. The Supreme Soul is infinite, and the atomic soul is infinitesimal. Therefore, the infinitesimal soul, being unchangeable, can never become equal to the infinite soul, of the Supreme Personality Of Godhead,Sri Krsna.
In actuality, there is no possibility of even following the other Vedic processes to perfection. For instance, the hatha-yoga process would say: “You have to become a strict brahmacari and sit in the forest with your body at a right angle to the ground, pressing your nose with your finger for six months.” Who could follow such an instruction? Since such a method is not practical in this present age, the goldsmith method has to be discarded. The solution is to take the blacksmith’s hammer of Krsna consciousness and finish off all sinful reactions immediately.
By devotional service one has to become vasudevaparayana, a devotee of Lord Vasudeva or Lord Krsna. In other words, we have to learn how to become lovers of Vasudeva. If the world takes up this Krsna consciousness, the planet is certain to be peaceful. Now the earth is quickly becoming a hellish planet, and if this Krsna consciousness is not taken up, this hellish condition will progress despite all advances in education and economic development. Therefore those who are thoughtful should take this movement very seriously and try to understand its value. It is not something manufactured by one man or a group of disciples. It is authoritative and age-old, based on the Vedic literatures which date back thousands of years.
Niharam iva bhaskarah: bhaskarah, refers to the sun. The sun immediately dissipates mist or fog as well as darkness. As stated before, we should try to make the sun of Krsna rise within our hearts. In the. Caitanyacaritamrta also it is stated that Krsna is like the sun and that maya, the illusory energy, is darkness. Yahan krsna, tahan nahi mayara adhikara: As soon as the sun of Krsna is present, the darkness of maya immediately disappears. Without following this process, it is very difficult to overcome the ocean of darkness, maya If we simply teach people to surrender unto Krsna God, all the fog and mist of illusion will
20. For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
21. 0 Partha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, unborn, eternal and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?
PURPORT
Everything has its utility, and a man who is situated in complete knowledge knows how and where to apply a thing for its proper utility. Similarly, violence also has its use, and how to apply violence rests with the person in knowledge. Although the justice of the peace awards capital punishment to a person condemned for murder, the justice of the peace cannot be blamed because he orders violence to another according to the codes of justice. In the Manu-samhit&, the lawbook for mankind, it is supported that a murderer should be condemned to death so that in his next life he will not have to suffer for the great sin he has committed.
28 Bhagavad-giti As It Is [Ch. 2
Therefore, the king's punishment of hanging a murderer is actually beneficial. Similarly, when Krsna orders fighting, it must be concluded that violence is for supreme justice, and, as such, Arjuna should follow the instruction, knowing well that such violence, committed in the act of fighting for justice, is not at all violence because, at any rate, the man, or rather the soul, cannot be killed. For the administration of justice, so-called violence is permitted. A surgical operation is not meant to kill the patient, but is for his cure. Therefore, the fighting to be executed by Arjuna, under the instruction of Krs.n.a, is with full knowledge, and so there is no possibility of sinful reaction.
22. As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
PURPORT
Change of body by the atomic individual soul is an accepted fact. Even some of th,e modern scientists who do not believe in the existence of the soul, but at the same time cannot explain the source of energy from the heart, have to accept continuous changes of body which appear from childhood to boyhood, and from boyhood to youth, and again from youth to old age. From old age, the change is transferred to another body. This has already been explained in the previous verse.
There are many things we have to accept solely on grounds of superior auth~ority. No one can deny the existence of his father, based upon the authority of his mother; there is no other source of understanding the identity of the father except on the authority of the mother. Similarly, there is no other source of understanding the soul except by studying the Vedas. In other words, the soul is inconceivable to human experimental knowledge. The soul is consciousness and conscious-that also is the statement of the Vedas, and we have to accept that. Unlike the bodily changes, there is no change for the soul. As eternally unchangeable, he always remains atomic in comparison to the infinite Supreme Soul. The Supreme Soul is infinite, and the atomic soul is infinitesimal. Therefore, the infinitesimal soul, being unchangeable, can never become equal to the infinite soul, of the Supreme Personality Of Godhead,Sri Krsna.
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