Jagat

Gītā catuḥ-ślokī 3 || 10.10 || तेषां सततयुक्तानां भजतां प्रीतिपूर्वकम्। ददामि बुद्धियोगं तं येन मामुपयान्ति ते॥१०॥ teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam | dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ yena mām upayānti te || ahaṁ teṣāṁ (pūrva-ślokayoḥ ukta-budhānāṁ) satata-yuktānāṁ prīti-pūrvakam bhajatāṁ buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi. kaṁ buddhi-yogaṁ ? taṁ yena te mām upayānti. satata ṁ = (adv.) constantly yuktānāṁ = “connected” (past.part. from √ yuj , genitive plural) nityābhiyuktānāṁ nivṛtta-sarva-bāhyaiṣaṇānāṁ : “those who are permanently connected and have given up all their external cravings ( bāhya eṣaṇa )” (Śaṅkara) bhajatāṁ = “of those worshiping” (pres. part. from √ bhaj, genitive plural) sevamānānām . ("of those serving") prītiḥ = (f.) love. snehaḥ. prīti-pūrvakaṁ = “with love” (adding pūrvakam to a noun is one way of creating an adverb or adverbial phrase, “lovingly.” This describes bhajatām . How are they worshipi...

kṛṣṇera saṁsāra koro chāḍi anācāra jīve dayā kṛṣṇa-nāma-- sarva-dharma-sāra Compassion is a value that is universally admired as essential to the spiritually evolved human being. Indeed, I doubt that any religion on earth does not in some way make it a center point of its concept of spiritual advancement. In particular, Mahayana Buddhism has a very developed concept of compassion. I am not an expert on Buddhism, just taking a couple of undergrad courses back in the day, but more and more people -- including a lot of disaffected devotees -- seem to be taking shelter of Buddhism, and one of the points to which they seem to be attracted is the Buddhist idea of universal compassion ( bodhi-citta ). Looking at several Buddhist websites (forgive my lack of due diligence), it seems that the consensus definition of compassion there is "a mind that is motivated by cherishing other living beings and wishes to release them from their suffering." On a good site comprehensively ...

Gītā catuḥ-ślokī 2 || 10.9 || मच्चित्ता मद्गतप्राणा बोधयन्तः परस्परम्। कथयन्तश्च मां नित्यं तुष्यन्ति च रमन्ति च॥ mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā bodhayantaḥ parasparam | kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca || [ te pūrva-ślokoktā budhāḥ ] ·          mac-cittāḥ = Like man-manāḥ in 9.34 , mayi cittaṁ yeṣāṁ te mac-cittāḥ . ·          mad-gata-prāṇāḥ = to me, gone, life. Again, this is a bahuvrīhi , so the compound is describing the devotees. māṁ gatāḥ prāptāś cakṣur-ādayaḥ prāṇā yeṣāṁ te | athavā, mad-gata-prāṇāḥ mad-gata-jīvanā ity etat . ·          bodhayant aḥ = “making understand, explaining, enlightening.” ( Nom. pl. of present participle, masculine from √ budh in the causative ). avagamayantaḥ ·          parasparam = adv. indeclinable. “each other, mutually, reciprocally” anyo’nyam...

Just as there is a seven-verse Gītā, there is a tradition in the Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas, apparently started by Viśvanātha Cakravartī in the 17 th century, of a four-verse Gītā. Like the four-verse Bhāgavatam (2.9.33-36), these verses are found clustered together in a sequence (10.8-11) close to the actual center of the book. Unlike the  Bhāgavatam , however, they are not "self-proclaimed" as the essential teaching, nor do they contain mysterious utterances that require extended analysis and interpretation; they are straightforward. You can decide for yourself which of the two mini-texts better summarizes the essence of the Bhagavad-gītā. But that will take detailed knowledge of the entire Gītā. Gītā catuḥ-ślokī 1 || 10.8 || अहं सर्वस्य प्रभवो मत्तः सर्वं प्रवर्तते। इति मत्वा भजन्ते मां बुधा भावसमन्विताः॥८॥ ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate | iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ || Anvayaḥ: ahaṁ sarvasya jagataḥ prabhava ...

This is an old article from way back published on the now defunct VNN site. I came across it as I was doing some research on compassion. There was no copy on the blog so I decided to repost it. It will be somewhat interesting to see the difference of style and content. One thing that springs quickly to anyone who reads my other stuff on this blog, is that I am directly addressing some hypothetical Iskcon audience. Anyway, check out the current article when I put it up. The link is dead. EDITORIAL, Apr 25 (VNN) — In his article ( Practical Standard of Goodness ), Akhilesvara Prabhu recognizes the role that the Golden Rule has played in Western moral philosophy and asks the question whether we can find an alternative to it as the basis of morality. This is a significant question, and though it may seem self evident that we accept the idea of treating our neighbor as we would be treated ourselves, it is worth investigating. The American transcendentalist Josiah Royce identified thi...

Gītā sapta-ślokī 7 || 9.34 || मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु। मामेवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवमात्मानं मत्परायणः॥ man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru | mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ || bhava man-manāḥ. bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. bhava mad-yājī. māṁ namaskuru. mat-parāyaṇaḥ [bhūtvā], evaṁ ātmānaṁ yuktvā, mām eva eṣyasi. OR evaṁ yuktvā, ātmānam mām eva eṣyasi. [ ahaṁ hi sarveṣāṁ bhūtānām ātmā .] man-manā ḥ = “Me-minded.” ( manas is a neuter noun, nom. sing. is manaḥ . Here it is turned into a bahu-vrīhi samāsa refering to Arjuna, so it has to be changed into its equivalent masculine form. The masculine will be the same as neuter in everything except the nominative and accusative. The nom. sing. here is manāḥ -- but only in such compounds! (Masc. declension: manāḥ, manasau, manasaḥ/manasaṁ, manasau, manasaḥ ) mad-bhakt aḥ = “My devotee” mad-yājī = “My worshiper.” (nom. sing. of yājin ) mad-yajana-śīlo...

Gītā sapta-ślokī 6 || 15. 1 5 || सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि संनिविष्टो मत्तः स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च। वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम्॥ sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi saṁniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca | vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham || ahaṁ sarvasya hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ ca | mattaḥ smṛti jñānam apohanaṁ ca āgacchanti | ahaṁ sarvaiḥ vedaiś ca vedyaḥ | ahaṁ vedānta-kṛt veda-vit eva (asmi) || hṛt = heart (hṛdi is locative singular) buddhau saṁniviṣṭaḥ = entered, placed, situated ( saṁ-ni- √ viś ). Past participle, being used actively. matta ḥ = from me ( mat + taḥ ) smṛtiḥ = (f.) memory apohanaṁ = the taking away of that (memory and knowledge) apagamanaṁ ca | vedy aḥ = (fut.pot.part.) “to be known” veditavyaḥ . This is a passive construction: “By the Vedas, I am to be known.” vedānta-kṛ t = “the doer/fabricator/maker of the Vedānta” (...

Gītā sapta-ślokī 5 || 15.1 || ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम्। छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित्॥ ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam | chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit || [yasya] mūlaṁ ūrdhvaṁ asti, śākhā adhaḥ sthitā [asti], yasya ca [aśvatthasya] parṇāni chandāṁsi santi, [tam] aśvatthaṁ avyayam [iti] prāhuḥ [śrutayaḥ] | yas taṁ veda, sa veda-vid bhavati | ūrdhva-mūlaṁ = “with the roots above” ( bahuvrīhi-samāsa ) yasya mūlāni ūrdhve sthitāni santi, tam. adhaḥ-śākhaṁ = “with the branches below”. These two adjectives describe the tree, so agree in number, case and gender. a śvatthaṁ (acc. sing.) the banyan tree ( na śvo’pi sthātety aśvatthas taṁ kṣaṇa-pradhvaṁsinam ) prāhuḥ = “they say” ( kathayanti ) There is no subject, but the commentaries add śrutayaḥ and refer to a verse in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.3.1): ūrdhva-mūlo’vāk-śākha eṣo’śvatthaḥ sanātanaḥ | avyayaṁ = (adj.) ine...

Gītā sapta-ślokī 4 || 8.9 || कविं पुराणमनुशासितारम् अणोरणीयांसमनुस्मरेद्यः। सर्वस्य धातारमचिन्त्यरूपम् आदित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात्॥ This is an incomplete sentence, since the yaḥ has no referent. You have to look for it in the next verse: sa taṁ paraṁ puruṣam upaiti divyam. Anvaya: yaḥ = whoever, anusmaret = should constantly remember [the paraṁ puruṣam as:] Now all the adjectival phrases agree with paraṁ puruṣam from the next verse, which is in the accusative: kaviṁ (“poet, omniscient”) sarva-jñaṁ . purāṇaṁ (“ancient”) cirantanam , anuśāsitāraṁ (“ruler”, acc. sing. of anuśāstṛ ), sarvasya jagataḥ praśāsitāram , aṇoḥ (abl. sing. of aṇu , “atom, very tiny”) sūkṣmād ap i , aṇīyāṁsaṁ (acc. sing. of aṇīyas , “tinier”) sūkṣmataram sarvasya (“of all”) karma-phala-jātasya (“of all collective fruits of action”) dhātāraṁ (“God, the support”, acc. sing. of dhātṛ ) = vidhātāraṁ vicitratayā prāṇibhyo vibhaktāram (“the one who dec...

Gītā sapta-ślokī 3 || 13.13 || सर्वतः पाणिपादं तत् सर्वतोक्षिशिरोमुखम्। सर्वतः श्रुतिमल्लोके सर्वम् आवृत्य तिष्ठति॥ sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat sarvato’kṣi-śiro-mukham | sarvataḥ śrutimal loke sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati || sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ : sarvataḥ (on all sides, everywhere) pāṇayaḥ (hands) pādāś (feet) cāsyeti sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ taj jñeyam (that is to be known) | sarvato’kṣi-śiro-mukhaṁ : sarvataḥ akṣīṇi (akṣi, n. , nom. pl., “eyes”) śirāṁsi ( śiras , n. nom. pl. “heads) mukhāni ca yasya, tat sarvato’kṣi-śiro-mukham . sarvataḥ śrutimat : śrutiḥ (f.) śravaṇendriyam (“the hearing sense”) , tat yasya tat śrutimat (- mat is an important suffix. After –a, ā it is - vat. It has various senses, but primarily that of possession, i.e., “having.” ) loke ( lokaḥ = m. “world, people”) prāṇi-nikāye (“the totality of living beings) | sarvam āvṛtya (gerund, “having covered, after covering”) saṁvyāpya , tiṣṭhati (“it stands, remains”) sthitiṁ labhate || ...

Gītā sapta-ślokī 2 || 11.36 || स्थाने हृषीकेश तव प्रकीर्त्या जगत् प्रहृष्यत्यनुरज्यते च। रक्षांसि भीतानि दिशो द्रवन्ति सर्वे नमस्यन्ति च सिद्धसंघाः॥३६॥ sthāne hṛṣīkeśa tava prakīrtyā jagat prahṛṣyaty anurajyate ca | rakṣāṁsi bhītāni diśo dravanti sarve namasyanti ca siddha-saṁghāḥ || Anvayaḥ : he hṛṣīkeśa ! tava prakīrtyā jagat sthāne prahṛṣyati anurajyate ca. rakṣāṁsi bhītāni diśo dravanti. sarve siddha-saṅghāḥ namasyanti ca. Please note that henceforth all the paraphrases in these verses come from Śaṅkara’s Gītā - bhāṣya . ·          sthāne yuktam . (indeclinable particle, adverb). “rightly, properly” ·          kiṁ tat ? tava (“your”) prakī r tyā ( by “fame, glories”) tvan-māhātmya-kīrtanena śrutena | he hṛṣīkeśa (vocative) ! yat jagat (“the world”) prahṛṣyati (“becomes joyful”) praharṣam upaiti, tat sthāne yuktam ity arthaḥ | “What is right...