Bhagavad-gita As It Is - Macmillan 1972 Edition -- Prabhupada Books (29 page)

Bg 3.21

TEXT 21

TEXT

yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas

tat tad evetaro janaḥ

sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute

lokas tad anuvartate

SYNONYMS

yat-
whatever;
yat-
and whichever;
ācarati-
does he act;
śreṣṭhaḥ-
respectable leader;
tat-
that;
tat-
and that alone;
eva-
certainly;
itaraḥ-
common;
janaḥ-
person;
saḥ-
he;
yat-
whichever;
pramāṇam-
evidence;
kurute-
does perform;
lokaḥ-
all the world;
tat-
that;
anuvartate-
follow in the footsteps.

TRANSLATION

Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.

PURPORT

People in general always require a leader who can teach the public by practical behavior. A leader cannot teach the public to stop smoking if he himself smokes. Lord Caitanya said that a teacher should behave properly even before he begins teaching. One who teaches in that way is called
ācārya
, or the ideal teacher. Therefore, a teacher must follow the principles of
śāśtra
(scripture) to reach the common man. The teacher cannot manufacture rules against the principles of revealed scriptures. The revealed scriptures, like
Manu-saṁhitā
and similar others, are considered the standard books to be followed by human society. Thus the leader's teaching should be based on the principles of the standard rules as they are practiced by the great teachers. The
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
also affirms that one should follow in the footsteps of great devotees, and that is the way of progress on the path of spiritual realization. The king or the executive head of a state, the father and the school teacher are all considered to be natural leaders of the innocent people in general. All such natural leaders have a great responsibility to their dependants; therefore they must be conversant with standard books of moral and spiritual codes.

Bg 3.22

TEXT 22

TEXT

na me pārthāsti kartavyaṁ

triṣu lokeṣu kiñcana

nānavāptam avāptavyaṁ

varta eva ca karmaṇi

SYNONYMS

na-
none;
me-
Mine;
pārtha-
O son of Pṛthā;
asti-
there is;
kartavyam-
any prescribed duty;
triṣu-
in the three;
lokeṣu-
planetary systems;
kiñcana
-anything;
na-
no;
anavāptam-
in want;
avāptavyam-
to be gained;
varte-
engaged;
eva-
certainly;
ca-
also;
karmaṇi-
in one's prescribed duty.

TRANSLATION

O son of Pṛthā, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I need to obtain anything-and yet I am engaged in work.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is described in the Vedic literatures as follows:

tam īśvarāṇāṁ paramaṁ maheśvaraṁ
taṁ devatānāṁ paramaṁ ca daivatam
patiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ parastād
vidāma devaṁ bhuvaneśam īḍyam

na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svā-bhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca.

"The Supreme Lord is the controller of all other controllers, and He is the greatest of all the diverse planetary leaders. Everyone is under His control. All entities are delegated with particular power only by the Supreme Lord; they are not supreme themselves. He is also worshipable by all demigods and is the supreme director of all directors. Therefore, He is transcendental to all kinds of material leaders and controllers and is worshipable by all. There is no one greater than Him, and He is the supreme cause of all causes.

"He does not possess bodily form like that of an ordinary living entity. There is no difference between His body and His soul. He is absolute. All His senses are transcendental. Any one of His senses can perform the action of any other sense. Therefore, no one is greater than Him or equal to Him. His potencies are multifarious, and thus His deeds are automatically performed as a natural sequence."
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad
6.7-8)

Since everything is in full opulence in the Personality of Godhead and is existing in full truth, there is no duty for the Supreme Personality of Godhead to perform. One who must receive the results of work has some designated duty, but one who has nothing to achieve within the three planetary systems certainly has no duty. And yet Lord Kṛṣṇa is engaged on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra as the leader of the
kṣatriyas
because the
kṣatriyas
are duty-bound to give protection to the distressed. Although He is above all the regulations of the revealed scriptures, He does not do anything that violates the revealed scriptures.

Bg 3.23

TEXT 23

TEXT

yadi hy ahaṁ na varteyaṁ

jātu karmaṇy atandritaḥ

mama vartmānuvartante

manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

SYNONYMS

yadi-
if;
hi-
certainly;
aham-
I;
na-
do not;
varteyam-
thus engage;
jātu-
ever;
karmaṇi-
in the performance of prescribed duties;
atandritaḥ-
with great care;
mama-
My;
vartma-
path;
anuvartante-
would follow;
manuṣyāḥ-
all men
; pārtha-
O son of Pṛthā;
sarvaśaḥ-
in all respects.

TRANSLATION

For, if I did not engage in work, O Pārtha, certainly all men would follow My path.

PURPORT

In order to keep the balance of social tranquility for progress in spiritual life. there are traditional family usages meant for every civilized man. Although such rules and regulations are for the conditioned souls and not Lord Kṛṣṇa, because He descended to establish the principles of religion, He followed the prescribed rules. Otherwise, common men would follow in His footsteps because He is the greatest authority. From the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
it is understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa was performing all the religious duties at home and out of home, as required of a householder.

Bg 3.24

TEXT 24

TEXT

utsīdeyur ime lokā

na kuryāṁ karma ced aham

saṅkarasya ca kartā syām

upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ

SYNONYMS

utsīdeyuḥ-
put into ruin;
ime-
all these;
lokāḥ-
worlds;
na-
do not;
kuryām-
perform;
karma-
prescribed duties;
cet-
if;
aham-
I;
saṅkarasya-
of unwanted population;
ca-
and;
kartā-
creator;
syām-
shall be;
upahanyām-
destroy;
imāḥ-
all these;
prajāḥ-
living entities.

TRANSLATION

If I should cease to work, then all these worlds would be put to ruination. I would also be the cause of creating unwanted population, and I would thereby destroy the peace of all sentient beings.

PURPORT

Varṇa-saṅkara
is unwanted population which disturbs the peace of the general society. In order to check this social disturbance, there are prescribed rules and regulations by which the population can automatically become peaceful and organized for spiritual progress in life. When Lord Kṛṣṇa descends, naturally He deals with such rules and regulations in order to maintain the prestige and necessity of such important performances. The Lord is the father of all living entities, and if the living entities are misguided, indirectly the responsibility goes to the Lord. Therefore, whenever there is general disregard of regulative principles, the Lord Himself descends and corrects the society. We should, however, note carefully that although we have to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, we still have to remember that we cannot imitate Him. Following and imitating are not on the same level. We cannot imitate the Lord by lifting Govardhana Hill, as the Lord did in His childhood. It is impossible for any human being. We have to follow His instructions, but we may not imitate Him at any time. The
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
affirms:

naitat samācarej jātu manasāpi hy anīśvaraḥ
vinaśyaty ācaran mauḍhyād yathā 'rudro 'bdhijaṁ viṣam

īśvarāṇāṁ vacaḥ satyaṁ tathaivācaritaṁ kvacit
teṣāṁ yat sva-vaco yuktaṁ buddhimāṁs tat samācaret

"One should simply follow the instructions of the Lord and His empowered servants. Their instructions are all good for us, and any intelligent person will perform them as instructed. However, one should guard against trying to imitate their actions. One should not try to drink the ocean of poison in imitation of Lord Śiva."
(Bhāg.
10.33.30)

We should always consider the position of the
īśvaras,
or those who can actually control the movements of the sun and moon, as superior. Without such power, one cannot imitate the
īśvaras,
who are superpowerful. Lord Śiva drank poison to the extent of swallowing an ocean, but if any common man tries to drink even a fragment of such poison, he will be killed. There are many psuedo-devotees of Lord Śiva who want to indulge in smoking gāñjā (marijuana) and similar intoxicating drugs, forgetting that by so imitating the acts of Lord Śiva they are calling death very near. Similarly, there are some psuedo-devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa who prefer to imitate the Lord in His
rāsa-līlā,
or dance of love, forgetting their inability to lift Govardhana Hill. It is best, therefore, that one not try to imitate the powerful, but simply follow their instructions; nor should one try to occupy their posts without qualification. There are so many "incarnations" of God without the power of the Supreme Godhead.

Bg 3.25

TEXT 25

TEXT

saktāḥ karmaṇy avidvāṁso

yathā kurvanti bhārata

kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaś

cikīrṣur loka-saṅgraham

SYNONYMS

saktāḥ-
being attached;
karmaṇi-
prescribed duties;
avidvāṁsaḥ-
the ignorant;
yathā-
as much as;
kurvanti-
do it;
bhārata
-O descendant of Bharata;
kuryāt-
must do;
vidvān-
the learned;
tathā-
thus;
asaktaḥ-
without attachment;
cikīrṣuḥ-
desiring to;
loka-saṅgraham-
leading the people in general.

TRANSLATION

As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, similarly the learned may also act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.

PURPORT

A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and a person not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are differentiated by different desires. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not do anything which is not conducive to development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He may even act exactly like the ignorant person, who is too much attached to material activities, but one is engaged in such activities for the satisfaction of his sense gratification, whereas the other is engaged for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, the Kṛṣṇa conscious person is required to show the people how to act and how to engage the results of action for the purpose of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Bg 3.26

TEXT 26

TEXT

na buddhi-bhedaṁ janayed

ajñānāṁ karma-saṅginām

joṣayet sarva-karmāṇi

vidvān yuktaḥ samācaran

SYNONYMS

na-
do not;
buddhi-bhedam-
disrupt the intelligence;
janayet-
do;
ajñānām-
of the foolish;
karma-saṅginām-
attached to fruitive work;
joṣayet-
dovetailed;
sarva-
all;
karmāṇi-
work;
vidvān-
learned;
yuktaḥ-
all engaged;
samācaran-
practicing.

TRANSLATION

Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to fruitive action. They should not be encouraged to refrain from work, but to engage in work in the spirit of devotion.

PURPORT

Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ:
that is the end of all Vedic rituals. All rituals, all performances of sacrifices, and everything that is put into the
Vedas
, including all directions for material activities, are meant for understanding Kṛṣṇa, who is the ultimate goal of life. But because the conditioned souls do not know anything beyond sense gratification, they study the
Vedas
to that end. Through sense regulations, however, one is gradually elevated to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore a realized soul in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should not disturb others in their activities or understanding, but he should act by showing how the results of all work can be dedicated to the service of Kṛṣṇa. The learned Kṛṣṇa conscious person may act in such a way that the ignorant person working for sense gratification may learn how to act and how to behave. Although the ignorant man is not to be disturbed in his activities, still, a slightly developed Kṛṣṇa conscious person may directly be engaged in the service of the Lord without waiting for other Vedic formulas. For this fortunate man there is no need to follow the Vedic rituals, because in direct Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can have all the results simply by following the prescribed duties of a particular person.