We more often than not think that Krishna primarily spoke the Bhagvad Gita to solve the problems that we face in the course of our material existence. While that may be true to a certain extent, the real purpose of Krishna behind speaking the Gita is to solve his problem. And what is his transcendental problem ? His transcendental problem is that we have abandoned him and his home – the spiritual world and have decided to enjoy separately from him in this world of matter. We are all lovers of Krishna and we have somehow or the other had this terrible breakup with him and left him and his world.
Now he has followed us in to this world of ours where we live a life disconnected from our lover {KRISHNA) epitomized by the phenomenon of the false EGO. We have completely forgotten him. But Krishna never stopped loving us. He is constantly present in our hearts and is trying his best to get us back to his loving embrace. We are always in his heart and even against our wish he is present in our heart as parmatma. The heart to heart relation can never be broken. He constantly guides us and fulfills our every wish as parmatma (but since he is a jilted lover he keeps creating mischief with a view to get us frustrated in the material world and go back to him )
It is somewhat reminiscent of the classic love triangle romantic stories where the hero ( in our case Krishna) is desperately in a unrequited love with the heroine ( jiva atma ) . He constantly follows her but never comes before her. He slips in to a disguise and helps her in her needs but she fails to see through the disguise. The heroine never reciprocates his love and she, in fact, keeps desiring the love of another man whom she is infatuated with . The hero is heart broken but nevertheless keeps helping the heroine in her attempt to impress her crush. But in the heart of hearts he is constantly hoping that she will one day fall in love with him. He will only reveal himself in his true form when she truly realizes her love for him.
In the above Metaphor we see that the jiva is constantly desiring to lord it over the material world and stay away from Krishna . Krishna is constantly fulfilling each and every desire of the jiva while staying hidden in his heart. All the while Krishna is secretly hoping that the jiva gets frustrated in its every desire to love this material world and will one day turn back to him. Yogamaya Krishna’s primary potency dons the suit of Mahamaya and carries out this task of reuniting Krishna with his lover the Jiva and this is the story of all of us. She creates situations in which all the other lovers and material objects of the jiva finally end up deserting the jiva and the jiva finally realizes that his true love is Krishna. And when that moment arrives the jiva’s true lover Krishna is waiting with his arms open to say the magical words I LOVE YOU and embrace the jiva.
In the light of the above metaphor when we look at the contents of the gita, it would not out of order to propose that most of us think Krishna spoke the Gita to solve our material problems ( so that we can enjoy the material world away from Krishna ) but the whole purpose of Gita is to get us to Love Krishna .
Gita is the ultimate transcendental Love letter of Krishna to the JIVA. It is the SONG of LOVE .
Now we know that Krishna desperately loves us but like our HERO he cannot express his love for us directly nor come before us. He cannot bear that we will reject his proposition of LOVE. Hence he carefully hides his feelings and he behaves like a neutral friend who is there to help us enjoy the material world.
Bhakti is synonymous with love and we see that Bhakti and even Krishna is hidden in the Vedas and the Upanishads. The vedas have many flowery words that promise to help us enjoy the material happiness and pleasure and yagyas and techniques to promote us to heaven ( the other man of our love triangle) . But the real purpose of the vedas – the secret purpose is to convince us to say I Love You to Krishna the LORD OF OUR HEART ( see verses below) and to return back to his loving embrace.
Gita 2.42 and 2.43
yām imāṁ puṣpitāṁ vācaṁ
pravadanty avipaścitaḥ
veda-vāda-ratāḥ pārtha
nānyad astīti vādinaḥ
kāmātmānaḥ svarga-parā
janma-karma-phala-pradām
kriyā-viśeṣa-bahulāṁ
bhogaiśvarya-gatiṁ prati
SYNONYMS
yām imām—all these; puṣpitām—flowery; vācam—words; pravadanti—say; avipaścitaḥ—men with a poor fund of knowledge; veda-vāda-ratāḥ—supposed followers of the Vedas; pārtha—O son of Pṛthā; na—never; anyat—anything else; asti—there is; iti—thus; vādinaḥ—the advocates; kāma-ātmānaḥ—desirous of sense gratification; svarga—parāḥ—aiming to achieve heavenly planets; janma-karma-phala-pradām—resulting in good birth and other fruitive reactions; kriyā-viśeṣa—pompous ceremonies; bahulām—various; bhoga—in sense enjoyment; aiśvarya—and opulence; gatim—progress; prati—towards.
TRANSLATION
Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.
Bhagvatam 1.3.35
evaṁ janmāni karmāṇi
hy akartur ajanasya ca
varṇayanti sma kavayo
veda-guhyāni hṛt-pateḥ
SYNONYMS
evam—thus; janmāni—birth; karmāṇi—activities; hi—certainly; akartuḥ—of the inactive; ajanasya—of the unborn; ca—and; varṇayanti—describe; sma—in the past; kavayaḥ—the learned; veda-guhyāni—undiscoverable by the Vedas; hṛt-pateḥ—of the Lord of the heart.
TRANSLATION
Thus learned men describe the births and activities of the unborn and inactive, which is undiscoverable even in the Vedic literatures. HE IS THE LORD OF THE HEART.
Therefore Krishna only reveals himself and his heart when he is convinced that we won’t break his heart. That being so, in the Gita when even the topic of loving him or the topic that he is the goal of everything comes up – Krishna states that it is extremely confidential. He constantly remains hidden behind the scenes like the hero of our movie using his yogamaya potency. it would not be too injudicious to state that Bhakti is synonymous with love and topics regarding the love between the soul and Krishna are all extremely esoteric and hidden in the vedic literature just like the one sided lover hides his true feelings from his beloved till he is sure that she will reciprocate his love. In the gita, in instances where Krishna talks about the topic of Bhakti he affirms that the topic is extremely confidential.
It is explained thus in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.9.31):
jñānaṁ parama-guhyaṁ me
yad vijñāna-samanvitam
sa-rahasyaṁ tad-aṅgaṁ ca
gṛhāṇa gaditaṁ mayā
“The knowledge of the self and Supreme Self is very confidential and mysterious, but such knowledge and specific realization can be understood if explained with their various aspects by the Lord Himself.”
7.2 purport
Complete knowledge includes knowledge of the phenomenal world, the spirit behind it, and the source of both of them. This is transcendental knowledge. The Lord wants to explain the above-mentioned system of knowledge because Arjuna is Kṛṣṇa’s confidential devotee and friend.
9.1 purport
Topics discussed in the Seventh and Eighth chapters are specifically related to devotional service, and because they bring enlightenment in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are called more confidential. But the matters which are described in the Ninth Chapter deal with unalloyed, pure devotion. Therefore this is called the most confidential. One who is situated in the most confidential knowledge of Kṛṣṇa is naturally transcendental; he therefore has no material pangs, although he is in the material world.
9.2 purport
It is the most confidential because confidential or transcendental knowledge involves understanding the difference between the soul and the body. And the king of all confidential knowledge culminates in devotional service…..Thus the process of devotional service, of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is the king of all education and the king of all confidential knowledge.
15.19
Whoever knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, is the knower of everything. He therefore engages himself in full devotional service to Me, O son of Bharata.
15.20
This is the most confidential part of the Vedic scriptures, O sinless one, and it is disclosed now by Me. Whoever understands this will become wise, and his endeavors will know perfection.
Teachings of queen Kunti : start …..
Māyā will test us to see how firmly we are fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because she is also an agent of Kṛṣṇa, she does not allow anyone the freedom to disturb Kṛṣṇa. Therefore she tests very rigidly to see whether we have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness to disturb Kṛṣṇa or are actually serious. That is Māyā’s business. So in the beginning there will be tests by Māyā, and we shall feel so many disturbances while making progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness…… End
Thus Gita is that ultimate Love Letter that Krishna writes to the Jiva and in the end after speaking on various subject matters he eventually expresses his heart. This is, by far , the most confidential part of the gita – the very purpose of the gita. It is the part where Krishna confesses his love for the Jiva by telling him “I LOVE YOU” and he entreats the JIVA to reciprocate his feelings.
18.64
sarva-guhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ
śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ
iṣṭo ‘si me dṛḍham iti
tato vakṣyāmi te hitam
SYNONYMS
sarva-guhya-tamam—the most confidential of all; bhūyaḥ—again; śṛṇu—just hear; me—from Me; paramam—the supreme; vacaḥ—instruction; iṣṭaḥ asi—you are dear; me—to Me; dṛḍham—very; iti—thus; tataḥ—therefore; vakṣyāmi—I am speaking; te—for your; hitam—benefit.
TRANSLATION
Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you My supreme instruction, the most confidential knowledge of all. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit.
HERE WE CAN SEE KRISHNA IS USING THE WORD sarva-guhya-tamam—the most confidential of all SUBJECT MATTER SPOKEN IN ALL OF CREATION
paramam—THE SUPREME ; vacaḥ WORD … AND WHAT IS THAT SUPREME MOST CONFIDENTIAL WORDS THAT KRISHNA HAS TO TELL US ?
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo ‘si me
SYNONYMS
mat-manāḥ—thinking of Me; bhava—just become; mat-bhaktaḥ—My devotee; mat-yājī—My worshiper; mām—unto Me; namaskuru—offer your obeisances; mām—unto Me; eva—certainly; eṣyasi—you will come; satyam—truly; te—to you; pratijāne—I promise; priyaḥ—dear; asi—you are; me—to Me.
TRANSLATION
Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.
THE WORDS priyaḥ asi me LITERALLY MEANS I LOVE YOU OR YOU ARE DEAR TO ME AND HE ALSO TELLS US WHAT HE WANTS US TO DO BY THE WORDS
mat-manāḥ—thinking of Me; bhava—just become; mat-bhaktaḥ—My devotee;
THINK OF ME BECOME MY LOVER WORSHIP ME =LITERALLY IT IS KRISHNA TELLING US TO TELL HIM I LOVE YOU. AND HE INVITES AND PROMISES TO TAKE US BACK TO HIS LOVING EMBRACE mām—unto Me; eva—certainly; eṣyasi—you will come;
THIS IS THE CULMINATION OF THE 700 VERSE LONG LOVE LETTER THAT KRISHNA WRITES TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF HIS LOVERS.
When he Heroine ( Jiva ) finally realizes that her true love has always been the Hero ( Krishna) tears of joy start to pour from her eyes and she feels the symptoms of ecstatic love.
In the story of the illiterate Brahmana we can see how lord Chaitanya certified that he had understood the real purpose of the gita because the Brahmana even without properly reading a single verse of the gita was crying profusely just by remembering the form of Krishna sitting in the chariot . The love of the Brahmana had awakened for Krishna even without reading a single verse properly and lord Chaitanya concurred and said “ you have completely understood the gita” .
Just like the Brahmana the original speaker of the gita – Sanjaya also erupts in ecstasy when he discovers his true love for his Hero (Krishna)
18.74
sañjayaḥ uvāca—Sañjaya said; iti—thus; aham—I; vāsudevasya—of Kṛṣṇa; pārthasya—and Arjuna; ca—also; mahā-ātmanaḥ—of the great soul; saṁvādam—discussion; imam—this; aśrauṣam—have heard; adbhutam—wonderful; roma-harṣaṇam—making the hair stand on end.
TRANSLATION
Sañjaya said: Thus have I heard the conversation of two great souls, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. And so wonderful is that message THAT MY HAIR IS STANDING ON END.
18.76
rājan—O King; saṁsmṛtya—remembering; saṁsmṛtya—remembering; saṁvādam—message; imam—this; adbhutam—wonderful; keśava—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; arjunayoḥ—and Arjuna; puṇyam—pious; hṛṣyāmi—I am taking pleasure; ca—also; muhuḥ muhuḥ—repeatedly.
TRANSLATION
O King, as I repeatedly recall this wondrous and holy dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, I take pleasure, being thrilled at every moment.
tat—that; ca—also; saṁsmṛtya—remembering; saṁsmṛtya—remembering; rūpam—form; ati—greatly; adbhutam—wonderful; hareḥ—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; vismayaḥ—wonder; me—my; mahān—great; rājan—O King; hṛṣyāmi—I am enjoying; ca—also; punaḥ punaḥ—repeatedly.
TRANSLATION
O KING, AS I REMEMBER THE WONDERFUL FORM OF LORD KṚṢṆA, I AM STRUCK WITH WONDER MORE AND MORE, AND I REJOICE AGAIN AND AGAIN.
To conclude : We must realize that our True Lover Krishna is waiting for us with great anticipation. Every time we fall in love with a material object or give our heart to some one in this material world with a view to forward our sense gratification, we must remember we are betraying Krishna’s love. Karma yoga and Jyana yoga teach us a singular truth – detachment from the material world and its various lovers ( it is the part where the heroine breaks up with her other lovers ) – and Removal of all emotional attachment with the material objects.
Bhakti yoga teaches us to repose that love with our original lover Krishna .
That would be the sum and substance of the Gita.
– Raghunath Puri Das
