BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS

Chapter 18Text 72-73

Illusions destroyed by mercy of Krishna.

TEXT 72kaccid etac chrutam pārtha

tvayaikāgrena cetasā

kaccid ajñāna-sammohah

pranastas te dhanañjaya

O son of Prthā, O conqueror of wealth, have you heard this with an

attentive mind? And are your ignorance and illusions now

dispelled?

The Lord was acting as the spiritual master of Arjuna. Therefore it was His duty to inquire from Arjuna whether he understood the whole Bhagavad-gītā in its proper perspective. If not, the Lord was ready to re-explain any point, or the whole Bhagavad-gītā if so required.

Actually, anyone who hears Bhagavad-gītā from a bona fide spiritual master like Krsna or His representative will find that all his ignorance is dispelled.

Bhagavad-gītā is not an ordinary book written by a poet or fiction writer; it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Any person fortunate enough to hear these teachings from Krsna or from His bona fide spiritual representative is sure to become a liberated person and get out of the darkness of ignorance.

TEXT 73

arjuna uvāca

nasto mohah smrtir labdhā

tvat-prasādān mayācyuta

sthito 'smi gata-sandehah

karisye vacanam tava

Arjuna said: My dear Krsna, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have

regained my memory by Your mercy. I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to

Your instructions.

• The constitutional position of a living entity, represented by Arjuna, is that he has to act according to the order of the Supreme Lord. He is meant for self-discipline. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that the actual position of the living entity is that of eternal servant of the Supreme Lord.

• Forgetting this principle, the living entity becomes conditioned by material nature, but in serving the Supreme Lord he becomes the liberated servant of God. The living entity's constitutional position is to be a servitor; he has to serve either the illusory māyā or the Supreme Lord.

• he serves the Supreme Lord he is in his normal condition, but if he prefers to serve the illusory, external energy, then certainly he will be in bondage. He is bound by his lust and desires, yet he thinks of himself as the master of the world. This is called illusion.

• The last illusion, the last snare of māyā to trap the living entity, is the proposition that he is God.

• Actually to become free from the illusory energy is to understand Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and agree to act according to His order.

• The word moha is very important in this verse. Moha refers to that which is opposed to knowledge.

• Actually real knowledge is the understanding that every living being is eternally a servitor of the Lord, but instead of thinking oneself in that position, the living entity thinks that he is not a servant, that he is the master of this material world, for he wants to lord it over the material nature. That is his illusion.

• This illusion can be overcome by the mercy of the Lord or by the mercy of a pure devotee. When that illusion is over, one agrees to act in Krsna consciousness.

• Krsna consciousness is acting according to Krsna's order

• A conditioned soul, illusioned by the external energy of matter, does not know that the Supreme Lord is the master who is full of knowledge and who is the proprietor of everything.

• He is the friend of everyone, and He is especially inclined to His devotee. He is the controller of this material nature and of all living entities. He is also the controller of inexhaustible time, and He is full of all opulences and all potencies.

• The Supreme Personality of Godhead can even give Himself to the devotee.

• One who does not know Him is under the spell of illusion; he does not become a devotee, but a servitor of māyā.

• Arjuna, however, after hearing Bhagavad-gītā from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, became free from all illusion.

• He could understand that Krsna was not only his friend but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And he understood Krsna factually. So to study Bhagavad-gītā is to understand Krsna factually.

• When a person is in full knowledge, he naturally surrenders to Krsna.

• When Arjuna understood that it was Krsna's plan to reduce the unnecessary increase of population, he agreed to fight according to Krsna's desire. He again took up his weapons — his arrows and bow — to fight under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.