Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15
(Compiled notes)
Note: This is a series of study notes from the translation of Bhagavad Gita by Srila Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada (ISKCON founder) and titled as "Bhagvad Gita as it is". The copyright and content is that of Prabhupada & publishers. My part is simply distilling the knowledge from my self study and notes to share here in simple abridged form.
Purushottam Gyan Yoga - Yoga of the Supreme Person
-
15.3-4 - न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर्न च सम्प्रतिष्ठा । अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूलमसङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा ॥ ३ ॥
तत: पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यं यस्मिन्गता न निवर्तन्ति भूय: । तमेव चाद्यं पुरुषं प्रपद्ये यत: प्रवृत्ति: प्रसृता पुराणी ॥ ४ ॥
This material life is like an strong updside down banyan tree..to get out of the entanglement of this strong banyan tree of material life, one must surrender to Me, the Supreme Person.
-
15.5 - निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामा: ।
Without Ego, having conquered attachment, one situated in spiritual pursuits without desires...
-
Q- What is the secret to surrendering to Krishna?
-
A - The first qualification for a conditioned soul to surrender to the supreme soul Krishna is that one should not be deluded by pride (ego). only when one is free from delusion caused by pride, he can begin the process of surrender. For one who is always expecting some honor in this material world, it is not possible to surrender to the Supreme Person.
-
15.15 - सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्त: स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च । वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम् ॥ १५ ॥
I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
-
15.16 - द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च । क्षर: सर्वाणि भूतानि कूटस्थोऽक्षर उच्यते ॥ १६ ॥
There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every living entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every living entity is called infallible.
-
15.18 - यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तम: । अतोऽस्मि लोके वेदे च प्रथित: पुरुषोत्तम: ॥ १८ ॥
Because I am transcendental, beyond both the fallible and the infallible, and because I am the greatest, I am celebrated both in the world and in the Vedas as that Supreme Person.
-
15.19 - यो मामेवमसम्मूढो जानाति पुरुषोत्तमम् । स सर्वविद्भजति मां सर्वभावेन भारत ॥ १९ ॥
Whoever knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, is the knower of everything. He therefore engages himself in full devotional service to Me, O Arjuna.
-
in other words, if anyone, after speculating for hundreds of thousands of lives, does not come to the point that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that one has to surrender there, all his speculation for so many years and lives is a useless waste of time.
My chosen verse from this chapter:
सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्त: स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च ।
वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम् ॥ 15.15 ॥
I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
This verse is a corroboration of the fact that everything in the universe is in the control of the supreme personality of Godhead. This also describes that the endgoal of all vedic study is to come to a point where the supreme person Krishna is understood by the seeker. That all of vedic knowledge originally comes from Krishna himself. Also since Bhagavad Gita is the direct word of the Lord, simply a sincere serious study and practice of Gita can attain the same result as studying all of vedic literature (which could be a daunting task for most).
