Remember to do your own understanding of this sentence before you read ours. Express your own questions, insights and ‘so whats’ before you read ours, and discuss your lights to our questions before you read our lights.

“There it says that one should read Bhagavad-gita very scrutinizingly with the help of a person who is a devotee of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and try to understand it without personally motivated interpretations.”

Let’s break this sentence down:

 “There it says…” : This is a reference to Gita Mahatmya 2. In other words, he is further unpacking Sankaracarya’s unpacking of Bg 18.66 (read Bhagavad-gītā very sincerely and with all seriousness) as follows: 

• Read Bhagavad-gita very scrutinizingly;
• Read Bhagavad-gita with the help of another devotee;
• Try to understand what you are reading;
• Avoid personally motivated interpretations.

The above four items constitute surrender to Krishna.

Do you have any doubts, insights or ‘so-what’s’? Below we share some which came to mind.  Please discuss your lights to our questions, before you read ours.

Doubts:

1. If surrendering to Krishna means scrutinising Bhagavad-gita with another devotee’s help, and trying to understand it without personally motivated interpretations, why did Srila Prabhupada not make that clearer?

Our light:

Bhagavad-gita is “the most secret of all secrets.” (Bg 9.2 verse)

In other words, anyone can read it, but not everyone understands it. To keep the Bhagavad-gita’s confidentiality, Srila Prabhupada reveals its essence cryptically. To discover its secret, we must do what he tells us in the second sentence.

2. Surely, there is more to surrender than just reading Bhagavad-gita scrutinisingly with the help of a devotee, and trying to understand it without materially motivated interpretations? After all, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says there are six ways of surrender:

“The six ways of surrender through saranagati are (1) dainya – humijlity, (2) atma–nivedana – dedication of the self, (3) goptrtve varana – acceptance of the Lord as one’s only maintainer, (4) the consciousness of ‘avasya raksibe krsna’ – ‘Krsna will surely protect me’ – which is visvasa (faith) in Krsna’s palana (protection), (5) bhakti–anukula–matra karyera svikara – execution of only those acts favorable to pure devotion, and (6) bhakti–pratikula–bhava varjanangikara – renunciation of conduct adverse to pure devotion.” (Verse 3-4 of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s introductory song to Saranagati).

These six items can also be found in CC Madhya 22.100 verse.

Our light:

It is true that the above six ways of surrender must develop beyond Gita discussions to achieve full perfection. However, this entry level surrender is sufficient to get Krishna’s protection. Our evidence that hearing Bhagavad-gita will free us of all sins:

“And one who listens with faith and without envy becomes free from sinful reactions and attains to the auspicious planets where the pious dwell.” Bg 18.71 verse

Insights: 

1. By regularly applying Improving Sanga’s ten principles, we fulfil the criteria of surrendering to Krishna.
2. Everything we suffer in life, as well as all difficulties we encounter, is the consequence of previous sins. We can alleviate all our suffering and resolve all our difficulties simply by discussing the Bhagavad-gita using Improving Sanga’s 10 principles.
3. When devotees try to put the messages of the Gita in their own words, they often resort to word substitution. For example, they might substitute the word ‘surrender’ with ‘take shelter of’, or the word ‘seriously’ with ‘soberly’ or ‘determinedly’, and the word ‘sincerely’ with ‘honestly’ or ‘genuinely’. However, I note that both Sankaracarya and Srila Prabhupada avoid word substitution. Instead, they express meaning in their own words. They are both self-realised Acharyas, and therefore, we naturally accept their understanding. Since we are not self-realised, it is understandable that we are cautious and stick to paraphrasing. However, this tendency prevents us from grasping meaning. 

Our ‘So What’ (or action plan): In Gita Flow, we will do our best to grasp the meaning. We acknowledge we are not self-realised, and we will therefore provide evidence to support our understanding. We also encourage readers not to blindly accept our understanding. We are doing our best, but as we are conditioned souls, we can make mistakes. Therefore, do your best to understand the verses for yourself. We welcome dialogue with our readers, for we believe that we can all benefit through collaboration.