# Bhagavad-gītā *On the importance of Bhagavad-gītā and how to understand it* --- ### Only a Devotee Can Understand > So He clearly says that bhakto 'si: "You are not only My friend. There are many friends. I can find many friends. But you are not only My friend, but you are a great devotee. Therefore you can understand what is the real sense of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore I am speaking to you." — [[spoken/1966/660711bg.ny|Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 and Review, New York, 1966]] --- ### Accept It As It Is > If we actually want to derive some benefit out of the Bhagavad-gītā, then we have to follow these principles. Without following some principle, without following some regulative rules and regulation, how can you understand Bhagavad-gītā? It is not an ordinary book of knowledge, that you can purchase from the market and read it and consult dictionary, and you can understand. No. It is not possible. — [[spoken/1966/660711bg.ny|Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 and Review, New York, 1966]] --- ### Not for Interpretation > The author of the Bhagavad-gītā is saying very frankly that "The purpose of Bhagavad-gītā is now lost. So I am just trying to convince you. So you try to understand it." The purpose of Bhagavad-gītā is lost because they have been interpreted in a different way. So as soon as Bhagavad-gītā is interpreted in the ways of a particular scholar or particular man, oh, then the purpose of Bhagavad-gītā is lost. — [[spoken/1966/660711bg.ny|Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 and Review, New York, 1966]] --- ### Spoken by the Perfect Person > Why we are giving so much stress on the Bhagavad-gītā? There are many books available in the market, full of good instruction, knowledge, but why we are giving so much stress on the Bhagavad-gītā? Because it is spoken by a personality who is above all imperfection. — [[spoken/1966/660711bg.ny|Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 and Review, New York, 1966]] --- ### Famous All Over the World > Kṛṣṇa, He appeared five thousand years ago, during the Battle of Kurukṣetra, and still He's famous. Not only famous in India, but He's famous all over the world. In each, every language, the "Kṛṣṇa" word is there, dictionary. He's also stated as "Hindu god." But Kṛṣṇa is not Hindu god or Muslim god. He's God. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. God is God. — [[spoken/1973/730113bg.bom|Bhagavad-gītā 7.1, Bombay, 1973]] --- ### Must Result in Surrender > This is the beginning of faith, that "Now I must engage myself in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa." If you decide like that, then your reading of Bhagavad... means you have simply wasted your time. You may write very, so-called scholarly comment, but you have simply wasted your time. If you have not come to the conclusion that "Now I shall engage myself in the service of Kṛṣṇa." — [[spoken/1973/730113bg.bom|Bhagavad-gītā 7.1, Bombay, 1973]] --- ### Nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa > Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's teaching, the same, absolute. That is Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's... Here form, the same. It is not that we are making show of offering Kṛṣṇa some food. No. We are offering directly to Kṛṣṇa, and He's eating. Kṛṣṇa, being absolute, He can perform through anything, provided we are sincere and serious. — [[spoken/1971/710903ba.lon|Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's Appearance Day Lecture, London, 1971]] --- ### The Whole Scheme > We are, in essence, we are pure soul, but circumstantially we are now fallen in this material bondage, and therefore we are undergoing threefold miseries of material existence. And the whole Bhagavad-gītā scheme is how to get out of this material entanglement and be situated in your real, spiritual life of bliss, knowledge and eternal life. That is the whole scheme of Bhagavad-gītā. — [[spoken/1966/660711bg.ny|Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 and Review, New York, 1966]] --- ### Follow Arjuna's Footsteps > Now, you'll find in the Tenth Chapter how Arjuna understood Bhagavad-gītā. So you have to follow the footprints. If you find that you have understood in the same way as Arjuna understood it, Bhagavad-gītā, then your understanding of Bhagavad-gītā is right. Otherwise, if you have understood in a different way, then your understanding is different from the Bhagavad-gītā as it is. — [[spoken/1966/660711bg.ny|Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 and Review, New York, 1966]] --- ### Cannot Manufacture Interpretation > The intention of the Bhagavad-gītā is known by Kṛṣṇa, the author. So we have to understand the intention of the author. We cannot exact any meaning by our own scholarship which is different from the intention of the author. So anyone who is not in the disciplic succession, he cannot understand the intention of Kṛṣṇa. — [[spoken/1966/660711bg.ny|Bhagavad-gītā 4.1 and Review, New York, 1966]] --- *10 quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda on Bhagavad-gītā* [[wiki/quotes|Back to Quotes]]