TEXT 42
सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च ।
पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः ।। 42 ।।
doṣair etaiḥ kula-ghnānāṁ
varṇa-saṅkara-kārakaiḥ
utsādyante jāti-dharmāḥ
kula-dharmāś ca śāśvatāḥ
doṣaiḥ – by such faults; etaiḥ – all these; kula-ghnānām – of the destroyers of the family; varṇa-saṅkara – of unwanted children; kārakaiḥ – which are causes; utsādyante – are devastated; jāti-dharmāḥ – community projects; kula-dharmāḥ – family traditions; ca – also; śāśvatāḥ – eternal.
By the evil deeds of those who destroy the family tradition and thus give rise to unwanted children, all kinds of community projects and family welfare activities are devastated.
Community projects for the four orders of human society, combined with family welfare activities, as they are set forth by the institution of sanātana-dharma, or varṇāśrama-dharma, are designed to enable the human being to attain his ultimate salvation. Therefore, the breaking of the sanātana-dharma tradition by irresponsible leaders of society brings about chaos in that society, and consequently people forget the aim of life – Viṣṇu. Such leaders are called blind, and persons who follow such leaders are sure to be led into chaos.
TEXT 43
दोषैरेतैः कुलघ्नानां वर्णसङ्करकारकैः ।
उत्साद्यन्ते जातिधर्माः कुलधर्माश्च शाश्वताः ।। 43 ।।
utsanna-kula-dharmāṇāṁ
manuṣyāṇāṁ janārdana
narake niyataṁ vāso
bhavatīty anuśuśruma
utsanna – spoiled; kula-dharmāṇām – of those who have the family traditions; manuṣyāṇām – of such men; janārdana – O Kṛṣṇa; narake – in hell; niyatam – always; vāsaḥ – residence; bhavati – it so becomes; iti – thus; anuśuśruma – I have heard by disciplic succession.
O Kṛṣṇa, maintainer of the people, I have heard by disciplic succession that those whose family traditions are destroyed dwell always in hell.
Arjuna bases his argument not on his own personal experience, but on what he has heard from the authorities. That is the way of receiving real knowledge. One cannot reach the real point of factual knowledge without being helped by the right person who is already established in that knowledge. There is a system in the varṇāśrama institution by which before death one has to undergo the process of atonement for his sinful activities. One who is always engaged in sinful activities must utilize the process of atonement, called prāyaścitta. Without doing so, one surely will be transferred to hellish planets to undergo miserable lives as the result of sinful activities.
TEXT 44
उतन्न-कुलधर्माणां मनुष्याणां जनार्दन ।
नरकेनियतं वासो भवतीत्यनुशुश्रुम ।। 44 ।।
aho bata mahat pāpaṁ
kartuṁ vyavasitā vayam
yad rājya-sukha-lobhena
hantuṁ sva-janam udyatāḥ
aho – alas; bata – how strange it is; mahat – great; pāpam – sins; kartum – to perform; vyavasitāḥ – have decided; vayam – we; yat – because; rājya-sukha-lobhena – driven by greed for royal happiness; hantum – to kill; sva-janam – kinsmen; udyatāḥ – trying.
Alas, how strange it is that we are preparing to commit greatly sinful acts. Driven by the desire to enjoy royal happiness, we are intent on killing our own kinsmen.
Driven by selfish motives, one may be inclined to such sinful acts as the killing of one’s own brother, father or mother. There are many such instances in the history of the world. But Arjuna, being a saintly devotee of the Lord, is always conscious of moral principles and therefore takes care to avoid such activities.
TEXT 45
अहो बत महत्पापं कर्तुं व्यवसिता वयम् ।
यद्राज्यसुखलोभेन हन्तुं स्वजनमुद्यताः ।। 45 ।।
yadi mām apratīkāram
aśastraṁ śastra-pāṇayaḥ
dhārtarāṣṭrā raṇe hanyus
tan me kṣema-taraṁ bhavet
yadi – even if; mām – me; apratīkāram – without being resistant; aśastram – without being fully equipped; śastra-pāṇayaḥ – those with weapons in hand; dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ – the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra; raṇe – on the battlefield; hanyuḥ – may kill; tat – that; me – for me; kṣema-taram – better; bhavet – would be.
Better for me if the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, weapons in hand, were to kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield.
It is the custom – according to kṣatriya fighting principles – that an unarmed and unwilling foe should not be attacked. Arjuna, however, decided that even if attacked by the enemy in such an awkward position, he would not fight. He did not consider how much the other party was bent upon fighting. All these symptoms are due to soft-heartedness resulting from his being a great devotee of the Lord.
TEXT 46
यदि मामप्रतीकार -मशस्त्रं शस्त्रपाणयः ।
धार्तराष्ट्रा रणे हन्युस्तन्मे क्षेमतरं भवेत् ।। 46 ।।
sañjaya uvāca
evam uktvārjunaḥ saṅkhye
rathopastha upāviśat
visṛjya sa-śaraṁ cāpaṁ
śoka-saṁvigna-mānasaḥ
sañjayaḥ uvāca – Sañjaya said; evam – thus; uktvā – saying; arjunaḥ – Arjuna; saṅkhye – in the battlefield; ratha – of the chariot; upasthe – on the seat; upāviśat – sat down again; visṛjya – putting aside; sa-śaram – along with arrows; cāpam – the bow; śoka – by lamentation; saṁvigna – distressed; mānasaḥ – within the mind.
Sañjaya said: Arjuna, having thus spoken on the battlefield, cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief.
While observing the situation of his enemy, Arjuna stood up on the chariot, but he was so afflicted with lamentation that he sat down again, setting aside his bow and arrows. Such a kind and soft-hearted person, in the devotional service of the Lord, is fit to receive self-knowledge.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports to the First Chapter of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā in the matter of Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.
Chapter II, Contents of the Gita Summarized
TEXT 1
सञ्जय उवाच
तं तथा कृपयाऽऽविष्ट-मश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणम् ।
विषीदन्तमिदं वाक्य-मुवाच मधुसूदनः ।। 1 ।।
sañjaya uvāca
taṁ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭam
aśru-pūrṇākulekṣaṇam
viṣīdantam idaṁ vākyam
uvāca madhusūdanaḥ
sañjayaḥ uvāca – Sañjaya said; tam – unto Arjuna; tathā – thus; kṛpayā – by compassion; āviṣṭam – overwhelmed; aśru-pūrṇa-ākula – full of tears; īkṣaṇam – eyes; viṣīdantam – lamenting; idam – these; vākyam – words; uvāca – said; madhu-sūdanaḥ – the killer of Madhu.
Sañjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusūdana, Kṛṣṇa, spoke the following words.
Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization. The word “Madhusūdana” is significant in this verse. Lord Kṛṣṇa killed the demon Madhu, and now Arjuna wanted Kṛṣṇa 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 śūdra, or one who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a kṣatriya, and this conduct was not expected from him. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, can dissipate the lamentation of the ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad-gītā 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 Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This realization is possible when one works without attachment to fruitive results and is situated in the fixed conception of the real self.
TEXT 2
श्री भगवानुवाच—
कुतस्त्वा कश्म-लमिदं विषमे समुपस्थितम् ।
अनार्यजुष्ट-मस्वर्ग्य मकीर्तिकर-मर्जुन ।। 2 ।।
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ
viṣame samupasthitam
anārya-juṣṭam asvargyam
akīrti-karam arjuna
śrī-bhagavān uvāca – the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; kutaḥ – wherefrom; tvā – unto you; kaśmalam – dirtiness; idam – this lamentation; viṣame – in this hour of crisis; samupasthitam – arrived; anārya – persons who do not know the value of life; juṣṭam – practiced by; asvargyam – which does not lead to higher planets; akīrti – infamy; karam – the cause of; arjuna – O Arjuna.
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.
Kṛṣṇa and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are identical. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is referred to as Bhagavān throughout the Gītā. Bhagavān is the ultimate in the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding, namely Brahman, or the impersonal all-pervasive spirit; Paramātmā, or the localized aspect of the Supreme within the heart of all living entities; and Bhagavān, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.11) this conception of the Absolute Truth is explained thus:
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
brahmeti paramātmeti
bhagavān iti śabdyate
“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, Paramātmā and Bhagavān.”
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 Paramātmā 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 Bhagavān feature of the Absolute Truth, are the topmost transcendentalists, although all students who are engaged in
