Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

Its a text from Mbh. Next time please try to supply refs.

ITX file quote:

\EN{0140160111}sa hi dharmaH su paryaapto brahmaNaH pada vedane .
\EN{0140160113}na shakyaM tan.h mayaa bhuuyastathaa vaktumasheshhataH .. \SC..
\EN{0140160121}paraM hi brahma kathitaM yoga yuktena tan.h mayaa .
\EN{0140160123}itihaasaM tu vakshyaami tasminn.h arthe puraatanam.h .. \SC..

Ganguly translation (http://sacred-texts.com/hin/m14/m14016.htm):

Vaisampayana said, "The son of Pritha (Arjuna), having recovered his own kingdom, joyously spent his time, without doing anything else, in the company of Krishna, his heart filled with delight, in that palace of celestial beauty. One day, those two listlessly proceeded to a particular part of the palace that looked, O king, like a veritable portion of Heaven. Themselves filled with delight, they were then surrounded by their relatives and attendents. Pandus son, Arjuna, filled with joy in the company of Krishna, surveyed that delightful mansion, and then addressed his companion, saying, O--mighty-armed one, thy greatness became known to me upon the approach of the battle. O son of Devaki, thy form also, as the Lord of the universe, then became known to me! What thy holy self said unto me at that time, O Kesava, through affection, has all been forgotten by me, O chief of men, in consequence of the fickleness of my mind. Repeatedly, however, have I been curious on the subject of those truths. Thou again, O Madhava, wilt repair to Dwaraka soon.

Vaisampayana continued, Thus addressed by him, Krishna of mighty

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energy, that foremost of speakers, embraced Phalguna and replied unto him as follows.

Vasudeva said, I made thee listen to truths that are regarded as mysteries. I imparted to thee truths that are eternal. Verily, I discoursed to thee on Religion in its true form and on all the eternal regions. It is exceedingly disagreeable to me to learn that thou didst not, from folly, receive what I imparted. The recollection of all that I told thee on that occasion will not come to me now. Without doubt, O son of Pandu, thou art destitute of faith and thy understanding is not good. It is impossible for me, O Dhananjaya, to repeat, in detail, all that I said on that occasion. That religion (about which I discoursed to thee then) is more than sufficient for understanding Brahma. I cannot discourse on it again in detail. I discoursed to thee on Supreme Brahma, having concentrated myself in Yoga. I shalt now, however, recite to thee an old history upon the same topic.

Acarya commentaries should be consulted. I dont have any with me so Ill reply in general.

Mbh has two levels - dharma and paradharma (bhakti). While on the dharma level Krsna plays the role of a king who sometimes breaks promises, gets cursed, forgets things, etc., on the paradharma level this is all understood to be His lila. Hes the Supreme Lord. Sometimes the lila is meant to confuse unqualified people.

Madhvacharya comments in Mahabharata-tatparya-nirnaya on the apparent imperfections of the Lord in His appearances in this world:

"Hari Himself, for the delusion of the Daityas, shows sometimes ignorance, or dependence, or pain, or dismemberment, or the possession
of a physical body, or the loss of it, etc., or want of capacity or suffering, or equality with, or even inferiority to others." (1.38-39)

"Through this Hari is the Lord of the Devas, and controls the entire universe, still He always does act like a feeble agriculturalist. With
clouded mind, He does not know Himself; sorrowful, He searches for Sita; He was bound by Indrajit; all this and more is His play for
deluding the Asuras. He becomes senseless by instrumental blow, and has His skin cut; and blood flows. Not knowing Himself, He ask others; leaving His body, He departed to heaven. The Lord displayed all this though it didnt really exist, as if He were an actor, for the
delusion of the Asuras. The devas knew this to be false." (2.81-82)

Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Please accept my humble obesciences
"All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Sri Gauranga"

I am very much thankful to you for giving me such a nice answer.

Hare Krishna
I revisited this dialog and checked its sanskrit verses and also talked with very senior devotee in our society who replied:

" While it is true that Krishna said he could not repeat the exact teachings of the Gita, he gave no exact reason.
But it could NOT be that he had FORGOTTEN them because unlike us, Krishna NEVER forgets.
It was simply that he did not want to again say them and instead he spoke other teachings.

According to my little knowledge about sanskrit language I think the above statements are perfect Because there is no sanskrit verse in

http://sacred-texts.com/hin/mbs/mbs14016.htm

whose English translation is "> The RECOLLECTION of all that I told thee on that occasion will not come to me now. "

9 uc0u347 ru257 vitas tvau7747 mayu257 guhyau7747 j'f1u257 pitau347 ca sanu257 tanam
dharmau7747 svaru363 piu7751 au7747 pu257 rtha sarvaloku257 u7747 u347 ca u347 u257 u347 vatu257 n
10 abuddhvu257 yan na gu7771 hu7751 u299 thu257 s tan me sumahad apriyam
nu363 nam au347 raddadhu257 no si durmedhu257 u347 cu257 si pu257 u7751 u7693 ava
11 sa hi dharmau7717 suparyu257 pto brahmau7751 au7717 padavedane
na u347 akyau7747 tan mayu257 bhu363 yas tathu257 vaktum au347 eu7779 atau7717
12 parau7747 hi brahma kathitau7747 yogayuktena tan mayu257
itihu257 sau7747 tu vaku7779 yu257 mi tasminn arthe puru257 tanam
13 yathu257 tu257 u7747 buddhim u257 sthu257 ya gatim agryu257 u7747 gamiu7779 yasi
u347 u7771 u7751 u dharmabhu7771 tu257 u7747 u347 reu7779 u7789 ha gadatau7717 sarvam eva me
14 u257 gacchad bru257 hmau7751 au7717 kau347 cit svargaloku257 d ariu7747 dama
brahmaloku257 c ca durdharu7779 au7717 so smu257 bhiu7717 pu363 jito bhavat
15 asmu257 bhiu7717 paripu7771 u7779 u7789 au347 ca yad u257 ha bharataru7779 abha
divyena vidhinu257 pu257 rtha tac chu7771 u7751 uu7779 vu257 vicu257 rayan

That senior devotee further told me

""We can only really speculate as to the reason as we do not have the benefit of any commentaries by accepted authorities. Possibly Nilakantha or others may have commented, but I have not seen this and so I can only guess that this was part of Krishnas loving exchange with Arjuna. Arjuna was confused out of love, bewildered by the imminent departure of Krishna and he therefore said that he wanted Krishna to relieve him by again speaking the Gita. But this was a different situation entirely from Kuruksetra when Arjuna was apparently under maha maya. Krishna therefore chose to say something else. He lovingly chided Arjuna for "forgetting" the Gita and said he would not speak it again. That was his sweet will, but we should never conclude that Krishna can ever be in any kind of illusion"".

Arjuna was not under mahamaya! Yogamaya I thought?
Ysvt.

Arjuna was not under mahamaya! Yogamaya I thought?
Ysvt.

As Madva Archarya comments ....The farther is always the farther....and the son is always the son.Similarly Krishna plays the part of a king....to set the proper example to us.....His mood is different than Ramachandra because he is not trying to limit himself to all the necessary moral principles.....one wife....ksatriya etiquete...rules and regulations.Similarly if he is not in the mood,well he is the supreme autocratic person....which means.....hard luck it is not happening today....It is an appreciation of his unique mood and position as the supreme personality...

However he will repeat these bhagavad gita teachings with arjuna again in his next Mahabharat pastime .....In a universe or planet near us perpetually.....according to his desire and mood.Since these two are eternally linked in this sublime pastime to attract the conditioned souls back to godhead.....

Also in this particular lila.....It is time to gradually withdraw his eternal associates ....like arjuna.Who was personally unable to protect the women of the royal court....when attacked by mere dacoits.Such lila is according to the devine will of krishna.....to encourage arjuna to also be inclined to leave this particular environment or stage of Pastimes...
How can a supreme archer like arjuna ,who defeated 60,000 niva ti kavacca demigod warriors single handedly ....be defeated by some dacoits....unless it is krishnas devine will...

I take the conversation in the same way that we are advised to take the Bhagavad-gita:

In the Bhagavad-gita Arjuna represents us, the conditioned soul bewildered about what to do in life and harrassed by so many problems which are solved when he is convinced Krishna is the Supreme Lord and decides to act for His pleasure. In this lila after the war Arjuna again represents the conditioned soul: despite having heard the supreme spritual science he still forgot and wanted/needed to be reminded. Krishna does explain it again, but shows His displeasure at having to do so.

This dynamic is a perfect representation of the situation of us the conditioned soul: We hear the supreme truth, remember it for some time and then forget. Krishna and guru are certainly not happy about our repeated forgetfullness, but still they explain it again for our benefit.

Onkar, who is the very senior devotee you refer to?

From the sanskrit the word jnapitas means remembrance. This is the verse
"uc0u347 ru257 vitas tvau7747 mayu257 guhyau7747 j'f1u257 pitau347 ca sanu257 tanam
dharmau7747 svaru363 piu7751 au7747 pu257 rtha sarvaloku257 u7747 u347 ca u347 u257 u347 vatu257 n"
Anybody will give the same translation.
"parau7747 hi brahma kathitau7747 yogayuktena tan mayu257
itihu257 sau7747 tu vaku7779 yu257 mi tasminn arthe puru257 tanam"
I discoursed to thee on Supreme Brahma, having concentrated myself in Yoga. I shall now, however, recite to thee an old history upon the same topic.

Lord Krishna, speaking as the Supreme Brahman in the battlefield of Kurukshetra expounded His message, since He is Yogeshwara - the Master of Yoga. Yoga meaning to Unite.

There is no delusion involved here. This explains why Lord Krishna says He puts His seed in the mahad-brahma (Srimad BG 14.3) (cf. Rig Veda X.121, Manu Smriti Ch 1.5-12, MhB Santi Parva SECTION CCCIII) and why one must become one with the manifest Brahman (SBG 14.26), since He is the prathishtha or foundation of the mahad-brahman (SBG 14.27)

Ultimately, that which is beyond this Brahmam, is what is called the Unmanifest, which is the abode of Purusha. (SBG 8.20) Having attained which, no one returns to the Manifest mahad-Brahma which is subject to creation and annihilation.

Hope that helps.

Om namo Naaraayanaaya