Bhagavad-gita As It Is Introduction (…cont’d) by Tattvavit Das

Comments

1. Hasti Gopala dasa says:

   26. February 2023 at 1:27 am

   WONDERFUL ! OUTSTANDING !

   The Introduction to the Gita is transcendental power. Every time it is read by anyone more realizations surface.
   Indeed, each time any of Srila Prabhupadas books are read more and more realizations surface. His books therefore far surpass any books of knowledge on the planet by this quality as they come from the spiritual world and a pure devotee of Krsna.

   So, as Srila Prabhupada said in his lecture series on the Giita in LA back in February of 1969.
   “Unfold yourself”. Thank you so very much Tattvavit das prabhu. Now teach the rest of the Gita from Prabhupadas approved Gita Teaching Guide and watch the students of all ages line up to learn from The Book Of Hope.and graduate as disciples of Srila Prabhupada

   Link to the Gita Guide below.

   Study Guide Bhagavad-gita

   This work is intended as a companion guide to the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, by His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. The purpose of this guide is to assist the professor in helping the student better understand and appreciate the profound concepts and interlocking structure of Bhagavad-Gita. It is designed as a supplement to the text of the Gita, not as a substitute for it. The philosophical sublimeness and literary eloquence of this jewel of Indian wisdom are apparent to anyone who gives it a careful and sympathetic reading. That sublimeness and that eloquence, needless to say, do not survive in the summaries and comments of this handbook. But by focusing the reader’s attention on key verses by diagramming the Gita’s natural flow from one idea to the next, and by providing relevant background and historical information, this work may help make the reading of the Gita more gratifying and instructive. Although most teachers will prefer to use the guide themselves as a teaching aid, some may wish to make it directly available to the students as a helpful study guide. The main body of this guide consists of brief but thorough summaries for each of the Gita’s eighteen chapters, followed by a section of questions and answers covering the major elements of each chapter.

   http://www.prabhupadanugas.eu/news/books/pdf/The%20Gita%20Study%20Guide.pdf

   https://www.prabhupadanugas.eu/news/?p=50257

   Reply
2. mohini says:

   27. February 2023 at 12:15 pm

   The lotus feet of the Lord are by themselves the shelter of all places of pilgrimage. The great clear-minded sages, carried by the wings of the Vedas, always search after the nest of Your lotuslike face. Some of them surrender to Your lotus feet at every step by taking shelter of the best of rivers [the Ganges], which can deliver one from all sinful reactions.

   The paramahaṁsas are compared to royal swans who make their nests on the petals of the lotus flower. The Lord’s transcendental bodily parts are always compared to the lotus flower because in the material world the lotus flower is the last word in beauty. The most beautiful thing in the world is the Vedas, or Bhagavad-gītā, because therein knowledge is imparted by the Personality of Godhead Himself. The paramahaṁsa makes his nest in the lotuslike face of the Lord and always seeks shelter at His lotus feet, which are reached by the wings of Vedic wisdom. Since the Lord is the original source of all emanations, intelligent persons, enlightened by Vedic knowledge, seek the shelter of the Lord, just as birds who leave the nest again search out the nest to take complete rest. All Vedic knowledge is meant for understanding the Supreme Lord, as stated by the Lord in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15): vedaiś ca sarvair aham evavedyaḥ. Intelligent persons, who are like swans, take shelter of the Lord by all means and do not hover on the mental plane by fruitlessly speculating on different philosophies.

   The Lord is so kind that He has spread the River Ganges throughout the universe so that by taking bath in that holy river everyone can get release from the reactions of sins, which occur at every step. There are many rivers in the world which are able to evoke one’s sense of God consciousness simply by one’s bathing in them, and the River Ganges is chief amongst them. In India there are five sacred rivers, but the Ganges is the most sacred. The River Ganges and Bhagavad-gītā are chief sources of transcendental happiness for mankind, and intelligent persons can take shelter of them to go back home, back to Godhead. Even Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya recommends that a little knowledge in Bhagavad-gītā and the drinking of a little quantity of Ganges water can save one from the punishment of Yamarāja. (S.B.3.5.41)

   Note:

   Just for the record, we are all in no way near a paramahamsa stage but the more we are seeking the shelter of the Vedas in the form of the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad-Gita the more we are coming under the protection of the umbrella of the Lords lotus feet. The onslaughts of tormenting and torrential rains, thunder and hailstorms of the contaminations of the three modes of material nature are currently seen culminating in the devastating excesses of present day Kaliyuga. When taking shelter under the umbrella of the Lord’s instructions one throws off all miseries of material existence. Why?

   The Vedas are said to be the breath of the Lord, and that breath was inhaled by Brahmā, the original student of the Vedas. The Lord appeared as the Hayagrīva incarnation in a sacrifice performed by Brahmā. He is the personified sacrifices, and the hue of His body is golden. He is the personified Vedas as well, and the Supersoul of all demigods. When He breathed, all the sweet sounds of the Vedic hymns came out of His nostrils. The Lord spoke the Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna, so the words of the Bhagavad-Gita are his breathing.

   When taking shelter of the Vedas we are inhaling this very same original breath of the Lord. The Vedas are the breathing of the Lord and by reading them we are inhaling this same original breath and are invigorating our life air with this spiritual oxygen, with the Lord’s breath. This is not the normal air but the manifested, super enriched, spiritual original breath of the Lord. Material air and breathing is for the upkeep of the material body. The Lord’s pure breath is the nourishment for the spirit soul. The more the spirit soul inhales the breath of the Lord, the happier it gets. The Lord’s exhaling breath is the potency which energises and inspires as well as gives protection and shelter to Lord Brahma and to any living entity who wants to have it, no matter how pea sized ones brain might be. When we inhale this breath of the Lord by reading the Bhagavad-Gita and when we inhale the sweet sounds of the Vedic hymns in the form of Srimad Bhagavatam coming out of the nostrils of the Hayagrīva incarnation of the Lord, when we saturate our material bodies and minds with the Lord’s sweet breath that is the time we are under the shelter of the umbrella of the Lord’s lotus feet.

   Reply