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EDITORIAL March 1, 2000 VNN5583 Comment on this story Sri Gita: 'Please Believe Me!' BY SWAMI B.V. TRIPURARI  EDITORIAL, Mar 1 (VNN) — "Arjuna will attain Krsna because Krsna loves him, and here Krsna begs Arjuna, 'Please believe me!' This is the opinion of Jiva Goswami."A discussion on 18.65 from 'Bhagavad-gita: Its Feeling and Philosophy' by Swami B.V. Tripurari "Fix your mind on me. Be my devotee! Sacrifice for me. Offer obeisance unto me. In this way you will surely come to me. I promise you this because you are my very dear friend." Bg. 18.65
At the end of chapter nine Krsna spoke feelingly about his devotees' love for him and the importance of cultivating this love. There he said 'mam evasyasi yukvaivam atmanam mat-parayanah', 'Steadfast, with me as your aim you shall come to me.' He said this in the context of telling Arjuna that which he repeats here, 'Fix your mind on me. Be my devotee! Sacrifice for me. Offer obeisance unto me.' In this verse, however, Krsna says 'mam evaisyasi satyam te pratijani priyo 'si me,' 'In this way you will surely come to me. I promise you this because you are my very dear friend.' While in chapter nine Krsna speaks of his devotees' love for him, here he speaks more of his love for his devotees. Out of intense love for Arjuna Krsna promises him, his dear friend, that he will attain him. Arjuna will attain Krsna because Krsna loves him, and here Krsna begs Arjuna, 'Please believe me!' This is the opinion of Jiva Goswami. Not only does Krsna want Arjuna to know his love for him, he also wants him to believe that in spite of everything he has said, simply accepting his love one can attain perfection. After all that Krsna has said about spiritual practice and attainment this may seem hard to believe. Thus Krsna feels compelled to make a solemn promise. At this point all of Krsna's other instructions are superceded. In order to instruct one in spiritual life one cannot tell his disciple everything at once. Sometimes the guru must emphasize one instruction, and at a later date that very instruction may be superceded by another seemingly contradictory instruction. It is said that the guru sometimes appears to lie to his disciple in the course of instructing him in the highest truth. The scripture in the least takes a license to exaggerate. (1) Great souls cheat others in the course of enlightening them, just as a parent may cheat her child by falsely promising one thing to get her to do another thing that is in her higher interest. Materially speaking it may appear that great souls cannot always be trusted. They can, however be trusted to give us the ultimate truth as to the falsity of material existence and the reality of love of God. In Srimad Bhagavatam Sanjaya tells Yudhisthira 'musito 'smi mahatmabhih,' 'I have been cheated by great souls.'(2) Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada comments 'Great souls cheat others for a great cause.' Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura states that persons from Mathura, the birthplace of Krsna, are known for being deceptive. Indeed the great and noble Vasudeva broke his word to Kamsa when he failed to deliver Krsna into his hands. Krsna is hardly an exception. In the greater context of the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata, Krsna instructs the prince of dharma, Yudhisthira, to lie, and this in a book of dharma. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada comments elsewhere that the transcendental position from which the activities of realized souls are enacted is called 'Mathura.'(3) He says further, 'Devotion to Krsna, the son of Nanda Maharaja, is the essence of all knowledge, and wherever such knowledge is manifested [that place] is called Mathura. Also, when one establishes bhakti-yoga, excluding all other methods, one's situation is called Mathura. 'Yatra nityam sannihito harih'(4) the place where Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, lives eternally is called Mathura.' He cites the following verse in support of this: 'mathyate tu jagat sarvam brahma-jnanena yena va/ tat-sara-bhutam yad yasyam mathura sa nigadyate.'(5) The above verse from Gopala Tapani Upanisad explains that the name Mathura is given to the abode of Krsna because the manifest essence of spiritual knowledge by which the entire universe has been churned appears there. That by which the entire universe is churned is called 'matha,' or knowledge of Brahman. That knowledge is the person Gopala Krsna himself. This Gopala conquers Manmatha, a name for cupid who bewilders the mind of everyone. Krsna is Manmatha-manmatha, Madana-gopala, the transcendental cupid conquering cupid. If cupid churns the world, appearing to make it go around, he who captivates cupid, the cowherd who appears in Mathura Mandala, is the actual churner of the world. He churns away cupid's lust-butter, producing the love-butter-essence of ghee free from impuritiesÑthe king of knowledge that is bhakti (raja-vidya). At the heart of our desire for worldly love is the soul's yearning for real love, love of Krsna. It is by this love that the world is perfectly understood and comes to an end with regard to cupid's influence. In his commentary on Gopala Tapani Upanisad, Prabhodananda Sarasvati says that the word 'va' (or) in this verse describing the import of the word mathura indicates an alternate understanding of the verse that is not clearly mentioned in it, namely bhakti. Thus Mathura is the place where spiritual knowledge and bhakti are revealed in their most complete manifestation.(6) The expansion of Vraja Krsna was born in Mathura, and Vraja Krsna himself is intimately connected with Mathura, as those in a rural area are connected with the nearest city. Thus Arjuna wonders as Krsna speaks if he can be trusted. Even in his childhood he is known for being untruthful and a thief. Of course when he who is the proprietor of everything steals, this is merely play. It is this divine play, Krsna-lila, that Krsna encourages us to enter into in this verse. That land is beyond truth seeking, where truth itself is folly, and the crooked nature of love prevails. As Rupa Goswami says, love, like a snake does not move in a straight line, 'aher iva gati premah sva bhava kutila bhavet.'(7) Thus Krsna's message of love has woven its way through many religious conceptions only to fully manifest here at the conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita. Jiva Goswami comments that Krsna is very eager to impart the instruction in this verse to Arjuna, his eyes full of tears of love for his devotee. With folded hands as he instructs Arjuna, honestly pleading with him. By using the word 'mam' repeatedly in this verse Krsna tells Arjuna that the promise he makes in the second half of this verse applies to those who worship him exclusively, not any other form of himself. This is his vow (satyam te). He can be trusted. Baladeva Vidyabhusana comments that Krsna tells Arjuna that although it is true that people from Mathura cannot be trusted, it is also known that they will never deceive those they love. Here Krsna says 'I love you Arjuna. Trust me. Think of me always, but not like those who do so out of enmity, like Sisupala.(8) Think of me favorably in love. Be my devotee, and not only in word, but in action as well. Therefore worship me with flowers, incense and other such things mentioned in the scripture. Sacrifice your life for me, and offer homage unto me with you whole body prostrated, and without a doubt you will live eternally with me. Perform this drama of love on the stage of surrender, about which I shall speak next.' Footnotes: 1 SB. 11.21.23 2 SB. 1.13.37 3 See Bhaktivedanta Purport to SB 10.1.69 4 SB 10.1.28 5 GtU. 2.63 6 Prabhodananda Sarasvati notes that this understanding can be established from the Unadi-sutra, a predecessor of Panini's grammar. 7 UN. Srngara-bheda-kathana 102 8 Sisupala thought constantly of Krsna out of enmity. This is not bhakti. At this time I would like to thank my godbrothers, godsisters, friends and followers for their contributions towards the publishing of this work. Although already indebted to all of you, who have been so kind as to keep me engaged in divine service with your sincere and thoughtful questions and ongoing spiritual interest, shamelessly I ask more service of you. If any of you can help me to raise the considerable balance still required to publish and publicize this commentary on Bhagavad Gita, however small, I will be eternally indebted. Please contact the Sanga moderator at In service, Swami VRINDAVAN SANGA, India, March 2000 Join our international Sanga community in Vrindavana, India where Tripurari Swami will be holding discourses morning and evening during the month of March, 2000. All friends and members of our internet Sanga are cordially invited to attend. Meals and accommodations, as well as recommendations for discount air tickets, can be arranged in advance by contacting <wmdean@earthlink.net>. The Vrindavan Sanga program is as follows: Morning, 7:00 a.m. Bhagavad-gita discourses, from Swami's recently completed manuscript, 'Bhagavad-gita: It's Feeling and Philosophy' followed by breakfast prasad. Afternoon, 12:00 p.m. Arotika and lunch prasad. Evening, 5:00 p.m. Caitanya-caritamrta discourses, from Adi-lila, followed by Arotika and dinner prasad. For more information and a map to Vrindavan Sanga visit: http://209.235.193.78/Pages/vrindavana.html Questions or comments may be sent to sadhusanga@swami.org. [Reprinted with permission from Sanga 2/28/00 http://www.swami.org] About the Author  Other Stories by this AuthorComment on this story Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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