Well that de-escalated quickly. For months on end, perhaps years, I have a few whales that upvote my posts, and then in a matter of two days this week, suddenly they all stop upvoting my posts. Like an orchestrated boycott, by the three or four of them. Whales with big voting hive power or stake and delegation. I wonder why? Maybe I wrote something that they didn’t like. It shows you what is really going on here on Hive. DPoS all the way hey?
Anyway, I can’t afford to lament or feel attached to my little bit of scraping for pennies one post at a time. The gravy train has to stop at the station at some point. It was a nice ride, thanks guys. I have more valuable reasons to post my original creative content and my legacy on this Hive blockchain than for collecting coin. I write because I am driven to transcribe onto a blockchain the wisdom of the ancient texts. I want that to be my legacy, that I wrote not for selfish material profit, selling my talent out to whatever genre pulled in the most upvotes, but rather staying true to my personal mindset.
So the blessing in disguise of the boycott of the three of four whales who used to be 90% of my Hive payout per post, is helping me to walk away from chasing coin and walk toward my service to the ancient Sanskrit text called Bhagavad Gita, as translated and commented on by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta. In his work called Bhagavad Gita As It Is, his original first edition from 1972 (before it was edited by his students with “change disease” as Swami called it) the author and Vaishnava teacher elaborated on the timeless classic where Krishna spoke to Arjuna the most crucial information for a person about to die.
After all, this oldest of all known poems in the world, a part of the Mahabharata, is spoken on the battlefield, where Prince Arjuna is about to start the war for the throne as ruler of the civilized world, around 5000 years ago. This fratricidal war would wipe out millions of soldiers, great and small, over the period of 18 days of its duration. And as it begins Arjuna hesitates, seeing that those he must kill include his own relatives and teacher. After all, that is what it means when cousins compete for the crown and the throne of the world.
Arjuna was hit with lamentation and depression, feeling that his victory would be a Pyrrhic one and a hollow one at that because he would win a kingdom at the sacrifice of his relatives who died at his sword and arrow. According to www.merriam-webster.com online dictionary, a Pyrrhic victory is one “that is not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it." As a result Arjuna is depressed and has lost his will to fight.
This can happen to the best of us when we see something that we had suddenly lost overnight. However, Krishna instructs Arjuna to find his true perspective of reality and see the bigger picture, while simply carrying on doing his duty, being the soldier that he was destined to be. I, as a student and writer, have my duty to transcribe the Vedic literature, like this Bhagavad Gita. Today I speak on one text of the 700, transcribing it onto the blockchain for posterity, as a service to the book Bhagavat and the person Bhagavat who narrated it to me, namely Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta.
There is no room for lamentation in the mind of someone who has seen the bigger picture and has a higher mission, one that goes beyond material acquisition and pandering to the gatekeepers or even the senses and their desires for more. Now I know my duty as a scribe to transcribe this – in my opinion – the most important text on the planet (hyperbole allowed).
We are all in the situation of Arjuna and Krishna is the voice of the Supersoul within, speaking to us and guiding us as we struggle with the lower modes of nature and with over-identification with the temporary material body and mind. We all also are obliged to struggle with the concept of our own mortality. We are all on the field, waiting to die. And some of us are attached to the body and its assets and offspring, while actually we should all hear the words of the mighty leader Krishna, who has the wisdom and guidance all souls require on the sojourn through this material existence.
Herewith then the first two texts of chapter two of Bhagavad Gita As It Is (1972 edition) including original Sanskrit, plus translation and commentary by Swamiji. The words of Krishna are applicable to us all as we face the final test. And the words of Swami Bhativedanta add the insights of a lineage of Vaishnava saints and scholars going back centuries, to Baladeva Vidyabhusana, Rupa Goswami and ultimately all the way to Madhvacharya (13th century) in the Brahma Narada Madhva Gaudiya sampradaya tradition of Vaishnavism .
Bhagavad Gita ch2:1
सञ्जय उवाच
तं तथा कृपयाविष्टमश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणम् ।
विषीदन्तमिदं वाक्यमुवाच मधुसूदनः ॥ १ ॥
sañjaya uvāca
taṁ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭam
aśru-pūrṇākulekṣaṇam
viṣīdantam idaṁ vākyam
uvāca madhusūdanaḥ
sanjayaḥ uvāca—Sanjaya said; tam—unto Arjuna; tathā—thus; kṛpayā—by compassion; āviṣṭam—overwhelmed; aśru-pūrṇa—full of tears; ākula—depressed; īkṣaṇam—eyes; viṣīdantam—lamenting; idam—this; vākyam—words; uvāca—said; madhusūdanaḥ—the killer of Madhu.
Translation
Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful, his eyes brimming with tears, Madhusūdana, Kṛṣṇa, spoke the following words.
Commentary
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 made possible by working with the fruitive being situated in the fixed conception of the real self.
Bhagavad Gita ch2:2
श्री भगवानुवाच
कुतस्त्वा कश्मलमिदं विषमे समुपस्थितम् ।
अनार्यजुष्टमस्वर्ग्यकीर्तिकरमर्जुन ॥ २ ॥
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—this hour of crisis; samupasthitam—arrived; anārya—persons who do not know the value of life; juṣṭam—practiced by; asvargyam—that which does not lead to higher planets; akīrti—infamy; karam—the cause of; arjuna—O Arjuna.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Person [Bhagavān] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy.
COMMENTARY
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. 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 this conception of the Absolute Truth is explained thus:
vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jnānam 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." (Bhāg. 1.2.11) 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 the study of the Absolute Truth are engaged in the same subject matter. The sunshine, the sun disc and the inner affairs of the sun planet cannot be separated from one another, and yet the students of the three different phases are not in the same category.
The Sanskrit word Bhagavān is explained by the great authority, Parāśara Muni, the father of Vyāsadeva. The Supreme Personality who possesses all riches, all strength, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation is called Bhagavān. There are many persons who are very rich, very powerful, very beautiful, very famous, very learned, and very much detached, but no one can claim that he possesses all riches, all strength, etc., entirely. Only Kṛṣṇa can claim this because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No living entity, including Brahmā, Lord Śiva, or Nārāyaṇa, can possess opulences as fully as Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is concluded in the Brahma-saṁhitā by Lord Brahmā himself that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one is equal to or above Him. He is the primeval Lord, or Bhagavān, known as Govinda, and He is the supreme cause of all causes.
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
"There are many personalities possessing the qualities of Bhagavān, but Kṛṣṇa is the supreme because none can excel Him. He is the Supreme Person, and His body is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. He is the primeval Lord Govinda and the cause of all causes." (Brahma-saṁhitā 5.1)
In the Bhāgavatam also there is a list of many incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Kṛṣṇa is described as the original Personality of Godhead, from whom many, many incarnations and Personalities of Godhead expand:
ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokaṁ mṛḍayanti yuge yuge
"All the lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted herewith are either plenary expansions or parts of the plenary expansions of the Supreme Godhead, but Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself." (Bhag. 1.3.28)
Therefore, Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, the source of both the Supersoul and the impersonal Brahman.
In the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Arjuna's lamentation for his kinsmen is certainly unbecoming, and therefore Kṛṣṇa expressed His surprise with the word kutas, "wherefrom." Such unmanly sentiments were never expected from a person belonging to the civilized class of men known as Āryans. The word āryan is applicable to persons who know the value of life and have a civilization based on spiritual realization. Persons who are led by the material conception of life do not know that the aim of life is realization of the Absolute Truth, Viṣṇu, or Bhagavān, and they are captivated by the external features of the material world, and therefore they do not know what liberation is. Persons who have no knowledge of liberation from material bondage are called non-Āryans. Although Arjuna was a kṣatriya, he was deviating from his prescribed duties by declining to fight. This act of cowardice is described as befitting the non-Āryans. Such deviation from duty does not help one in the progress of spiritual life, nor does it even give one the opportunity to become famous in this world. Lord Kṛṣṇa did not approve of the so-called compassion of Arjuna for his kinsmen.
Reference: www.prabhupadabooks.com
Image: iskcondurban.net
Posted using Proof of Brain
