Jagat

I spoke the other day about the Bhakti Sandarbha and the explanation given there of the verse etāvad eva jijñāsyaṁ tattva-jijñāsunātmanaḥ anvaya-vyatirekābhyāṁ yat syāt sarvatra sarvadā One who is inquiring into the truth of the Self should inquire only until the point it has been fully established for all places and for all times, both by affirmation and by negation. (SB 2.9.35) Jiva Goswami's task here is to show how this verse is about bhakti and not about jñāna . The word jñāna is twice in the verse, both times in the desiderative, "wanting to know." The first usage jijñāsyaṁ means "it is to be inquired", "to this extent only" ( etāvad eva ). By whom? By the ātmanaḥ tattva-jijñāsunā , "one who seeks to know the truth of the Self." "To what extent?" That is a reference to the previous verse, in which the prayojana was stated, the rahasyam of verse 29. This is now about the aṅga of the rahasya (mystery), which is ...

Gītā catuḥ-ślokī 4 || 10.11 || तेषामेवानुकम्पार्थमहमज्ञानजं तमः। नाशयाम्यात्मभावस्थो ज्ञानदीपेन भास्वता॥ teṣām evānukampārtham aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ | nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā || ahaṁ anukampārthaṁ teṣām ātma-bhāva-sthaḥ, (teṣām) ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā nāśayāmi. ·          anukampā = (f) mercy, compassion. dayā. ·          anukampārthaṁ = (adv.) add ārthaṁ in compound to another word and that shows the purpose. “for the sake of” dayā-hetoḥ. ·          ajñāna-jam = (adj.) “born of ignorance.” – ja is a suffix you can add to any word to make “arising from, born of.” ·          tam as = (n.) darkness. In sandhi, tamo . ·          nāśayāmi = “I destroy, I cause destruction.” (causative of √ naś, naśyati ) ...

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...

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 ...