[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: REQUEST : the Gita Please answer my question.
In article <ghenDyzy0t.Du5@netcom.com>, r.fagan@mail.utexas.edu says...
>
>Dear Rachel,
> Please post the the specific discourse and sloka ("verse") from the
>Bhagavad Gita that you are referring to and the translation (author).
This is a very good idea; I have memorized much of the Gita, but I
am not aware that there is any such verse.
>This scripture is a very complex spiritual texts which cannot be
>understood properly by most ordinary people in only one reading so do not
>get frustrated if it sems difficult.
Of course, no one expects to understand anything after one reading,
but I can't entirely agree that the Gita is extremely complex. At
least what I mean to say is that the gist of the Gita is quite
simple. I think the main reason it appears to be a complex and
inscrutable text is that people hear it from those who cannot
properly represent its teachings; because of this there are
apparent contridictions, paradoxical enigmas, and the like. In
other words, there are obvious differences between what the Gita
says and what unauthorized teachers claim it says (or means), and
this explains the frustation many people encounter when trying to
study it. Unfortunately, due to the current age of Kali-yuga, most
would-be gurus are unqualified according to sastric standards. The
safest path to take is the one Krsna Himself recommends (Gita, 4.2)
and hear Bhagavad-gita explained according to parampara conclusions,
by one properly initiated and trained in the same. We can
practically see an example of this in His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Svami Prabhupada. Before he presented Bhagavad-gita in
the abcve nmanner, as it is, there were so many available versions
of the Gita. But none of them produced very many devotees of Krsna
or brought about a remarkable change in society, even though these
are precisely the reasons Krrsna spoke the Gita in the first place.
Srila Prabhupada's translation, however, produced an exuberant
society of Krsna-bhaktas that is still expanding worldwide in an
unprecedented degree. This is the effect of humbly
following the parampara and properly hearing from it the gist of the
Gita.
This is open to all.
Hare Krsna,
-m
