A Study of the Bhagavadgita -1.2 Swami Krishnananda

11/07/2019
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Bhagavadgita -2.
Post-2.
(Spoken on March 3rd, 1974)

But it is not necessary that we all should go crying from this world, if only we are sure that we are blessed with this premonition of such a situation arising in everyone’s life. Nature’s laws exempt none, not even the best of men. Everyone has to tread the same route to perfection, and everyone has to confront the same problems and difficulties.

We have thus to proceed with great caution, and enter into a field of a newer type of study for the purpose of bringing about a thoroughgoing reorientation of our thought to bring about a rebirth, as it were, into the spirit of right understanding. We become like children when we truly aspire for knowledge proper, and then it is, perhaps, that Truth reveals itself before us.

As I mentioned, the Vedas and the Upanishads particularly are regarded, in this country especially, as specimens of the highest type of spiritual revelation. They are called Prabhu Samhita in ancient Sanskrit technical parlance, by which what is meant is the Vedas and the Upanishads go directly into the heart of Truth without mincing matters, without telling us stories, without giving us comparisons, analogies, anecdotes and diversions of any kind. They give us a command as to the nature of Truth, and this command aspect of their approach is what designates them as Prabhu Samhita. Prabhu is a lord, a master. He does not tell us stories. A master is very strict, and he immediately tells us what he requires of us. “Do this. Go here.” That is all. It is a direct instruction and a mandate upon us. The Vedas and the Upanishads give us a mandate, a command and an order like a medical prescription which is direct and precise, scientific.

But we live in a world of varieties. We see many things which we do not understand, but which attract our attention and demand an explanation of us. We have to confront them. When we are ready to follow the mandate of the Vedas and the Upanishads, we are also faced with certain side issues which arise on account of certain peculiarities in our own individual nature. We have a psychological setup. We are psychological beings. Man is especially a unit of an immense psychological complex, and thus needs to be approached from the point of view of this complex of which he is made.

To be continued ...