Bhagavad Gita 2.39 Editing without the presence of Srila Prabhupada

[Paramananda das]

Original 1972 Bhagavad-gita

TEXT 39

esa te 'bhihita sankhye buddhir yoge tv imam srnu buddhya yukto yaya partha karma-bandhamprahasyasi

SYNONYMS

esa--all these; te--unto you; abhihita--described; sankhye--by analytical  study; buddhih--intelligence; yoge--work without fruitive result; tu--but; imam--this; srnu--just hear; buddhya--by  intelligence; yuktah--dovetailed; yaya--by which; partha--O  son of Prtha; karma-bandham--bondage of ; prahasyasi--you can be  released from.

TRANSLATION

Thus far I have declared to  you the analytical knowledge of sankhya philosophy. Now listen to the knowledge  of yoga whereby one works without fruitive result. O son of Prtha, when you act  by such intelligence, you can yourself from the bondage of works.

PURPORT

According to the Nirukti, or the  Vedic dictionary, sankhya means that which describes phenomena in detail,  and sankhya refers to that philosophy which describes the real nature of  the soul. And yoga involves controlling the senses. Arjuna's proposal not  to fight was based on sense gratification. Forgetting his prime duty, he wanted  to cease fighting because he thought that by not killing his relatives and  kinsmen he would be happier than by enjoying the kingdom by conquering his  cousins and brothers, the sons of Dhrtarastra. In both ways, the basic  principles were for sense gratification. Happiness derived from conquering them  and happiness derived by seeing kinsmen alive are both on the basis of personal  sense gratification, for there is a sacrifice of wisdom and duty. Krsna,  therefore, wanted to explain to Arjuna that by killing the body of his  grandfather he would not be killing the soul proper, and He explained that all  individual persons, including the Lord Himself, are eternal individuals; they  were individuals in the past, they are individuals in the present, and they will  continue to remain individuals in the future, because all of us are individual  souls eternally, and we simply change our bodily dress in different manners.  But, actually, we keep our individuality even after liberation from the bondage  of material dress. An analytical study of the soul and the body has been very  graphically explained by Lord Krsna. And this descriptive knowledge of the soul  and the body from different angles of vision has been described here as sankhya, in terms of the Nirukti dictionary. This sankhya  has nothing to do with the sankhya philosophy of the atheist Kapila. Long  before the imposter Kapila's sankhya, the sankhya philosophy was  expounded in the Srimad-Bhagavatam by the true Lord Kapila, the  incarnation of Lord Krsna, who explained it to His mother, Devahuti. It is  clearly explained by Him that the Purusa, or the Supreme Lord, is active  and that He creates by looking over the prakrti. This is accepted in the Vedas and in the Gita. The description in the Vedas  indicates that the Lord glanced over the prakrti, or nature, and  impregnated it with atomic individual souls. All these individuals are working  in the material world for sense gratification, and under of material energy  they are thinking of being enjoyers. This mentality is dragged to the last point  of liberation when the living entity wants to become one with the Lord. This is  the last snare of maya or sense gratificatory illusion, and it is only  after many, many births of such sense gratificatory activities that a great soul  surrenders unto Vasudeva, Lord Krsna, thereby fulfilling the search after the  ultimate truth. Arjuna  has already accepted Krsna as his spiritual master by surrendering himself unto  Him: sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam. Consequently, Krsna will  now tell him about the working process in buddhi-yoga, or karma-yoga, or in other words, the practice of devotional service only  for the sense gratification of the Lord. This buddhi-yoga is clearly  explained in Chapter Ten, verse ten, as being direct communion with the Lord,  who is sitting as Paramatma in everyone's heart. But such communion does not  take place without devotional service. One who is therefore situated in  devotional or transcendental loving service to the Lord, or, in other words, in Krsna consciousness, attains to this stage of buddhi-yoga by the special  grace of the Lord. The Lord says, therefore, that only to those who are always  engaged in devotional service out of transcendental love does He award the pure  knowledge of devotion in love. In that way the devotee can reach Him easily in  the ever-blissful kingdom of God. Thus the buddhi-yoga mentioned in this verse is the devotional  service of the Lord, and the word sankhya mentioned herein has nothing to  do with the atheistic sankhya-yoga enunciated by the imposter Kapila. One  should not, therefore, misunderstand that the sankhya-yoga mentioned  herein has any connection with the atheistic sankhya. Nor did that  philosophy have any influence during that time; nor would Lord Krsna care to  mention such godless philosophical speculations. Real sankhya philosophy  is described by Lord Kapila in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, but even that sankhya has nothing to do with the current topics. Here, sankhya  means analytical description of the body and the soul. Lord Krsna made an  analytical description of the soul just to bring Arjuna to the point of buddhi-yoga, or bhakti-yoga. Therefore, Lord Krsna'ssankhya and Lord Kapila's sankhya, as described in the Bhagavatam, are one and the same. They are all bhakti-yoga. He  said, therefore, that only the less intelligent class of men make a distinction  between sankhya-yoga and bhakti-yoga. Of course, atheistic sankhya-yoga  has nothing to do with bhakti-yoga, yet the unintelligent claim that the  atheistic sankhya-yoga is referred to in the Bhagavad-gita. One should therefore  understand that buddhi-yoga means to work in Krsna consciousness, in the  full bliss and knowledge of devotional service. One who works for the  satisfaction of the Lord only, however difficult such work may be, is working  under the principles of buddhi-yoga and finds himself always in  transcendental bliss. By such transcendental engagement, one achieves all  transcendental qualities automatically, by the grace of the Lord, and thus his  liberation is complete in itself, without his making extraneous endeavors to  acquire knowledge. There is much difference between work in Krsna consciousness  and work for fruitive results, especially in the matter of sense gratification  for achieving results in terms of family or material happiness. Buddhi-yoga is therefore the transcendental quality of the work that we  perform.

Comments: Jayadvaita Swami argues that he can only do a better job than Hayagriva, the fact is however that Srila Prabhupada was present...Was Hayagriva trying to recover from being a homosexual and still engaged in Srila Prabhupadas service :Yes.

Did Srila Prabhupada try to rectifie him as he did with his other homosexual disciples like Kirtanananda and Umapati :Yes.

So is Jayadvaita Swamis argument to me that why would you want to read Bhagavad Gita from Hayagriva and not from me is a bogus argument, and this is the desire obviously of Jayadvaita Swami that he wants to be famous ....

He also told me sell my version and you will become famous...and I wrote him :"Rascal this is not your book ,but Srila Prabhupadas Bhagavad Gita".   Actually Jayadvaita Swami has no right to touch Srila Prabhupadas  ,Bhagavad Gita as it is , simply because Srila Prabhupada very clearly stated to not touch it.It is in a letter to Jayadvaita Swami also when he wanted to change one vers and Prabhupada told him not too. Lets look at the changes he/BBT and Dravida Prabhupada has made.

The Jayadvaita version:

Text 39

esa te ’bhihita sankhye buddhir yoge tv imam shrinu buddhya yukto yaya partha karma-bandham prahasyasi

Translation

Thus far I have described this knowledge to you through analytical study. Now listen as I explain it in terms of working without fruitive results. O son of Pritha, when you act in such knowledge you can free yourself from the bondage of works.

Commentary by Srila Prabhupada

According to the Nirukti, or the Vedic dictionary, sankhya means that which describes things in detail, and sankhya refers to that philosophy which describes the real nature of the soul. And yoga involves controlling the senses. Arjuna’s proposal not to fight was based on sense gratification. Forgetting his prime duty, he wanted to cease fighting, because he thought that by not killing his relatives and kinsmen he would be happier than by enjoying the kingdom after conquering his cousins and brothers, the sons of Dhritarashtra. In both ways, the basic principles were for sense gratification. Happiness derived from conquering them and happiness derived by seeing kinsmen alive are both on the basis of personal sense gratification, even at a sacrifice of wisdom and duty. Krishna, therefore, wanted to explain to Arjuna that by killing the body of his grandfather he would not be killing the soul proper, and He explained that all individual persons, including the Lord Himself, are eternal individuals; they were individuals in the past, they are individuals in the present, and they will continue to remain individuals in the future, because all of us are individual souls eternally. We simply change our bodily dress in different manners, but actually we keep our individuality even after liberation from the bondage of material dress. An analytical study of the soul and the body has been very graphically explained by Lord Krishna. And this descriptive knowledge of the soul and the body from different angles of vision has been described here as Sankhya, in terms of the Nirukti dictionary. This Sankhya has nothing to do with Sankhya philosophy of the atheist Kapila. Long before the imposter Kapila’s Sankhya, the Sankhya philosophy was expounded in the Srimad-Bhagavatam by the true Lord Kapila, the incarnation of Lord Krishna, who explained it to His mother, Devahuti. It is clearly explained by Him that the purusha, or the Supreme Lord, is active and that He creates by looking over the prakriti. This is accepted in the Vedas and in the Gita. The description in the Vedas indicates that the Lord glanced over the prakriti, or nature, and impregnated it with atomic individual souls. All these individuals are working in the material world for sense gratification, and under of material energy they are thinking of being enjoyers. This mentality is dragged to the last point of liberation when the living entity wants to become one with the Lord. This is the last snare of maya, or sense gratificatory illusion, and it is only after many, many births of such sense gratificatory activities that a great soul surrenders unto Vasudeva, Lord Krishna, thereby fulfilling the search after the ultimate truth.

Arjuna has already accepted Krishna as his spiritual master by surrendering himself unto Him: shishyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam. Consequently, Krishna will now tell him about the working in buddhi-yoga, or karma-yoga, or in other words, the practice of devotional service only for the sense gratification of the Lord. This buddhi-yoga is clearly explained in Chapter Ten, verse ten, as being direct communion with the Lord, who is sitting as Paramatma in everyone’s heart. But such communion does not take place without devotional service. One who is therefore situated in devotional or transcendental loving service to the Lord, or, in other words, in Krishna consciousness, attains to this stage of buddhi-yoga by the special grace of the Lord. The Lord says, therefore, that only to those who are always engaged in devotional service out of transcendental love does He award the pure knowledge of devotion in love. In that way the devotee can reach Him easily in the ever-blissful kingdom of God.

Thus the buddhi-yoga mentioned in this verse is the devotional service of the Lord, and the word Sankhya mentioned herein has nothing to do with the atheistic sankhya-yoga enunciated by the imposter Kapila. One should not, therefore, misunderstand that the sankhya-yoga mentioned herein has any connection with the atheistic Sankhya. Nor did that philosophy have any influence during that time; nor would Lord Krishna care to mention such godless philosophical speculations. Real Sankhya philosophy is described by Lord Kapila in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, but even that Sankhya has nothing to do with the current topics. Here, Sankhya means analytical description of the body and the soul. Lord Krishna made an analytical description of the soul just to bring Arjuna to the point of buddhi-yoga, or bhakti-yoga. Therefore, Lord Krishna’s Sankhya and Lord Kapila’s Sankhya, as described in the Bhagavatam, are one and the same. They are all bhakti-yoga. Lord Krishna Said, therefore, that only the less intelligent class of men make a distinction between sankhya-yoga and bhakti-yoga (sankhya-yogau prithag balah pravadanti na panditah).

Of course, atheistic sankhya-yoga has nothing to do with bhakti-yoga, yet the unintelligent claim that the atheistic sankhya-yoga is referred to in the Bhagavad-gita.

One should therefore understand that buddhi-yoga means to work in Krishna consciousness, in the full bliss and knowledge of devotional service. One who works for the satisfaction of the Lord only, however difficult such work may be, is working under the principles of buddhi-yoga and finds himself always in transcendental bliss. By such transcendental engagement, one achieves all transcendental understanding automatically, by the grace of the Lord, and thus his liberation is complete in itself, without his making extraneous endeavors to acquire knowledge. There is much difference between work in Krishna consciousness and work for fruitive results, especially in the matter of sense gratification for achieving results in terms of family or material happiness. Buddhi-yoga is therefore the

transcendental quality of the work that we perform.

Comments: The first change is in the vers it self:

Srila Prabhupada:

Thus far I have declared to  you the analytical knowledge of sankhya philosophy. Now listen to the knowledge  of yoga whereby one works without fruitive result. O son of Prtha, when you act  by such intelligence, you can yourself from the bondage of works.

Jayadvaita:

Thus far I have described this knowledge to you through analytical study. Now listen as I explain it in terms of working without fruitive results. O son of Pritha, when you act in such knowledge you can free yourself from the bondage of works.

Jayadvaita Swami takes the liberty and translates Sankya philosophy to analytical study, then in the next sentence he writes:

Now listen as I explain it in terms of working without fruitive results , but Srila Prabhupada has translated it as :

Now listen to the knowledge  of yoga whereby one works without fruitive result.

This is very significant difference because this vers talks about buddhi yoga :buddhir yoge tv imam  srnu

In the purport:

Prabhupada writes: Happiness derived from conquering them  and happiness derived by seeing kinsmen alive are both on the basis of personal  sense gratification, for there is a sacrifice of wisdom and duty

Jayadvaita: Happiness derived from conquering them and happiness derived by seeing kinsmen alive are both on the basis of personal sense gratification, even at a sacrifice of wisdom and duty

Further down in the purport: There is some changes in punctuation

Prabhupadas Macmillan:

will  continue to remain individuals in the future, because all of us are individual  souls eternally, and we simply change our bodily dress in different manners.

Jayadvaitas:

will continue to remain individuals in the future, because all of us are individual souls eternally. We simply change our bodily dress in different manners, but actually we keep our individuality even after liberation from the bondage of material dress

That may be better punctuation and a detail and nothing has changed...

Later Sankhya has been made in capital letters instead of Srila Prabhupadas sankhya in lower case......

Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

In this verse, Krishna concludes the jnana yoga which he has just taught. Sankhya means "that by which true knowledge of things (vastu tattvam) is perfectly (samak) revealed (khyayate)." In other words, sankhya means a perfect process of knowing. The intelligence (esa) resulting from that process has been explained. Now hear about the intelligence resulting from bhakti yoga (yoge) which will now be explained. Equipped with this intelligence which is absorbed in the subject of bhakti yoga, you will give up samsara (karma bandham).

Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya: Visnuswami Sridhara Swami's Commentary A brief introduction as to the correct understanding concerning the eternality of the immortal soul that has just been described is now concluded  and the path of actions known as karma yogawhich is the science of the  individual consciousness attaining communion with the Ultimate Consciousness is  now being introduced. That by which the nature of reality is determined is deemed as sankhya  which is analytical knowledge and that by which the nature of the eternal soul  is revealed is also sankhya. The proper understanding one must utilise in  respect to this has just been imparted to Arjuna. If in spite of all these  unequivocal instructions regarding the nature of the eternal soul one is still  unable to realise it then one should with determination seek to realise the  eternal soul by the science of the individual consciousness attaining communion  with the Ultimate Consciousness through actions without any hankering for fruitive . This  will allow a living entity to attain purity of mind and spiritual intelligence.  By the manifestation of spiritual intelligence one will understand how to  surrender all actions in righteousness to the Supreme Lord. The cessation of  seeking and yearning for fruitive results effectively neutralises any fruitive  reactions before they even materialise. Since it is ones own fruitive desires  that causes fruitive actions and subsequent reactions, by renouncing the desire  for any fruitive results and performing actions as a matter of duty a living  entity is automatically freed from any fruitive reactions.

Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya: Madhvacarya Madhvacarya's Commentary The wisdom of sankhya being the ability to understand the distinction of  spirit from matter leads to the realisation of the eternal soul and is in  essence the sankhya philosophy has been given in smriti. The yoga method of the  individual consciousness perceiving and then subsequently attaining communion  with the Ultimate Consciousness and the accompanying state which manifests has  been revealed in the Bhagavad Purana. Other than these nothing else has been  referred to as the sankhya philosophy or the science of yoga ; but in other  contexts the word karma yoga has been used and along with Pancaratra has been  named as a method for liberation. In the Vedic scriptures there is always a holistic understanding and  comprehensive appreciation present, thus there is no contradiction unless one is  in possession of faulty perceptions. It is sometimes seen that due to partial  understanding an incorrect interpretation is made due to not acquiring  sufficient knowledge. In the Citra Shikhandi Sastra the similarity between  Pancaratra and the Vedas has been well documented. Also in all cases the sankhya  philosophy and the science of yoga have been similarly described as methods for  liberation from the material existence. This is quite proper because spiritual  knowledge is the only means of salvation and various methods have been  delineated in the Vedic scriptures regarding this. If attainment of salvation  can become known by any method than that in itself is spiritual knowledge. By  whatever way the sankhya system comes to be known that is the distinction of  spirit from matter by that way it has been explained. Now begins the summation. Equal importance is also given to both jnana knowledge and sankhya. By yoga  both these 2 become united; therefore yoga is the means. Seekers of truth have  determined that yoga is the precursor to sankhya as given in the Sabda Nirnaya. Brahma Tarka is a dialectical method propounded by Visnu incarnation  Kapiladeva in his discourse to Devahuti on the original sankhya philosophy which  is fully theist in the Bhagavat Purana. The nyaya philosophy of Gautama, the  vaisesika philosophy of Kanada and the imitation sankhya philosophy which is  athiestic of Kapila Muni are all but dialectical arguments not dialectical  methods for attaining the Ultimate Truth. Mayavadi and Pasupata doctrines are  considered profane. The mimamsaka philosophy of Jaimini is threefold concerning  rituals, brahman and the Supreme Lord. The original sankhya philosophy of  Kapiladeva and the mimamsaka of Jaimini are both dialectical methods for the  Ultimate Truth. The perfect wisdom of the Vedic scriptures is the only complete  source of spiritual knowledge. Those who have realised this eternal truth do not  follow anything else. Other philosophies such as tantra or even the astanga yoga  system of Pantanjali should not be followed according to the Narada Purana. The atheist sankhya philosophy as has been stated earlier is a dialectical  argument but here in Bhagavad-Gita it is being explained in its original  theistic ontology as a dialectical method. The original sankhya philosophy as  well as the astanga yoga system both declare that killing causes undesirable  reactions. In the Bhagavad-Gita war is recommended as desirable for upholding dharma or  righteousness and in this way according to prescribed duties of a ksatriya is a  means for salvation when it is said karma bandham prahasyasi. So it should be  understood in this light and there should be no discrepancy between what has  been intended in the original sankhya philosophy or the astanga yoga system and  what has been related in Bhagavad-Gita as there is factually no contradiction.

Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya: Ramanuja There is no commentary for this verse.

Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya: Nimbaditya Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary Having instructed the true knowledge of the soul as being distinctly  different from the physical body and seeing that this knowledge has still not  been firmly embedded in Arjunas heart, Lord Krishna reiterates this truth again  in order to illustrate that this knowledge never becomes firmly embedded without  practice of the means which is yoga. To do this He introduces the yoga path of  selfless actions as the means to this end. Thus the reality is to perform all  actions under the direction of ones mind well cultivated by the aid of spiritual  knowledge from the Vedic scriptures exclusively. Although this spiritual  knowledge is scientific Arjuna is still unsteady in its application due to lack  of practice in assimilation. So Lord Krishna explains that by practice in the  performance of actions by the renunciation of their rewards Arjuna will be  completely freed from transmigration in the material existence.