SRIMAD BHAGAVAD-GITA

Preface

[Publisher's Note, first Bengali Edition,
Appearance Day of Lord Krishna, 1961]

Unique in its wide publication and extensive circulation, the Srimad Bhagavad-gita appears in various languages, both in India and other countries, along with the commentaries of former great saints as well as modern scholars. The commentaries of the prominent Vaisnava Acharyas such as Sri Ramanuja, Srimat Madhvamuni, and Sri Sridhar Swamipad are most noteable, whilst among the proponents of jnana-marga, or the monistic path, the commentaries of Srimat Sankaracharya and Sri Madhusudan Saraswati are well-known. The commentaries of Sriyuta Bala Gangadhar Tilak and Sri Aurobindo favour the school of karma-yoga, or the path of action, and are also familiar to modern scholars. Great thinkers of both East and West have ardently sung the glories of Sri Gita, being inspired by the ideals of its teachings.

However, the achintya-bhedabheda-siddhanta, theology of 'inconceivable oneness and difference' as revealed by the proponents of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—Gaudiya Acharyas Srila Visvanath Chakravarti and Srila Baladev Vidyabhusana, is concluded by the learned devotees to be most favorable to exclusive devotion. The devotees also embrace Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Bengali commentary of Sri Gita as a harmonious, spiritual mine of the treasure of divine love for Sri Krishna (Krishna-prema), the fifth and transcendental goal of life, beyond the four general human objectives of religion, wealth, sense enjoyment and liberation.

In his introduction my worshipful Divine Master, Sri Gurupadapadma Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya Sri Srimad Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, has revealed to the readers glimpses of his own deep devotional realizations. Although numerous editions of Sri Gita are presently available, few commentaries can be said to nurture pure devotion according to the teachings of bona fide divine succession, which has given us the opportunity of service in producing this edition. We shall consider ourselves blessed if the fortunate readers take the all-auspicious essence of this sincere attempt to heart.

Sri Bhakti Sundar Govinda
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Nabadwip

• Mangalacharanam
• Preface
• Introduction
1 Observing the Armies
2 The Constitution of the Soul
3 The Path of Action
4 The Path of Knowledge
5 The Path of Renunciation of Action
6 The Path of Meditation
7 Knowledge and Realization of the Supreme
8 The Merciful Absolute
9 The Hidden Treasure of Devotion
10 The Divine Glories of the Lord
11 The Vision of the Universal Form
12 The Path of Devotion
13 Distinction Between Matter and Spirit
14 The Three Divisions of Material Nature
15 The Supreme Person
16 The Godly and Ungodly Natures
17 The Three Types of Faith
18 The Path of Liberation
• The Glories of the Gita
• The Glories of Srimad Bhagavad-gita from Sri Vaisnaviya-tantra-sara