Bhagavad Gita -Srila Prabhupada 760

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is -Shri Shrimad A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Conclusion—The Perfection of Renunciation Chapter 18: Verse- 78 PURPORT From Bhagavad-gita we can understand that to realize oneself by philosophical speculation and by meditation is one process, but to fully surrender unto krsna is the highest perfection. This is the essence of the teachings of Bhagavad-gita. The path of regulative principles according to the orders of social life and according to the different courses of religion may be a confidential path of knowledge. But although the rituals of religion are confidential, meditation and cultivation of knowledge are still more confidential. And surrender unto krsna in devotional service in full krsna consciousness is the most confidential instruction. That is the essence of the Eighteenth Chapter. Another feature of Bhagavad-gita is that the actual truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. The Absolute Truth is realized in three features—impersonal Brahman, localized Paramätmä, and ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth means perfect knowledge of Krsna. If one understands Krsna, then all the departments of knowledge are part and parcel of that understanding.krsnais transcendental, for He is always situated in His eternal internal potency. The living entities are manifested of His energy and are divided into two classes, eternally conditioned and eternally liberated. Such living entities are innumerable, and they are considered fundamental parts of Krsna. Material energy is manifested into twenty-four divisions. The creation is effected by eternal time, and it is created and dissolved by external energy. This manifestation of the cosmic world repeatedly becomes visible and invisible. In Bhagavad-gita five principal subject matters have been discussed: the Supreme Personality of Godhead, material nature, the living entities, eternal time and all kinds of activities. All is dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. All conceptions of the Absolute Truth—impersonal Brahman, localized Paramätmä and any other transcendental conception—exist within the category of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although superficially the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the living entity, material nature and time appear to be different,nothing is different from the Supreme. But the Supreme is always different from everything. Lord Caitanya’s philosophy is that of “inconceivable oneness and difference.” This system of philosophy constitutes perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth. The living entity in his original position is pure spirit. He is just like an atomic particle of the Supreme Spirit. Thus Lord krsna may be compared to the sun, and the living entities to sunshine. Because the living entities are the marginal energy of Krsna, they have a tendency to be in contact either with the material energy or with the spiritual energy. In other words, the living entity is situated between the two energies of the Lord, and because he belongs to the superior energy of the Lord, he has a particle of independence. By proper use of that independence he comes under the direct order of Krsna. Thus he attains his normal condition in the pleasure-giving potency. Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports to the Eighteenth Chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita in the matter of its Conclusion—the Perfection of Renunciation.