by His Holiness Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja
by His Holiness Kirtanananda Maharaja
The Eighth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita begins with a series of seven questions. Arjuna asks, "What is Brahman?" "What is fruitive activity?" "What is the material manifestation?" "What are the demigods?" "How does this Lord of sacrifice live in the body?" "In which part does He live?" And finally, "How can those engaged in devotional service know You at the time of death?" Actually, these questions should not have been in the mind of Arjuna. Arjuna was a ksatriya, a high caste man, supposedly well versed in the knowledge of the Vedas. He should have known all these things; besides, all these questions had already been dealt with by Krsna previously in the first seven chapters: Brahman was analyzed and explained in 4.24, 6.27, and elaborately in 7.6-12; fruitive activities were discussed in every chapter, especially in 2.49, 3.19, 3.28, 3.31, 4.18-22, 5.3, and 6.1; the material manifestation is delineated in 7.4 and 7.30; the demigods are mentioned in 3.11-12, 4.12, 4.25, 5.29, and 7.20-23; the Lord of sacrifice, and where He lives, is explained in 3.9, 15, 4.23-33, 5.29, and 6.31; and even the last question is answered in 2.51, 6.47, and 7.23. For this reason, Krsna is once again addressed as Madhusudana, the killer of the great Madhu demon, and Arjuna is indirectly asking Krsna to kill these doubts that have arisen in his mind.
The first six questions the Lord deals with very summarily, although completely and authoritatively, because they have been dealt with at length previously. But the seventh question He answers at length and supplies much new information. Therefore almost the whole of the Eighth Chapter deals with how to quit the body at the time of death.
Arjuna also addresses Krsna as Purusottama, which indicates that although he was Krsna's intimate friend, he was not asking the questions on that basis, but he was asking them of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore, the answers can be expected to be definitive. There is one more important point to note about these two addresses of the Lord. Because Arjuna recognizes doubts as demons and presents them to the Lord (Madhusudana and Purusottama) for final liquidation, it is to be understood that Arjuna is not in illusion at all. Arjuna is not asking the questions for himself at all, but for us. This is also indicated in the Fourth Chapter, where the Lord indicated that Arjuna was one of His eternal associates present millions of years before at the first recitation of the Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god, Vivasvan. The eternal associates of the Lord are certainly liberated persons; therefore Arjuna should not be taken as an ordinary conditioned soul. Rather, these questions were raised so that the Lord could speak Bhagavad-gita and so that His pure devotee and intimate friend (bhakta) could become the first in the new parampara (disciplic succession) and thus give practical example that it is by bhakti (devotion) alone that one can enter into the understanding of the Gita. Arjuna is asking the questions just like a conditioned soul, but he is not himself conditioned. That is the perfection of the Gita: on all sides there is perfect knowledge. The questions are perfect, the answers are perfect, and if any conditioned soul will simply follow in the footsteps of Arjuna, he may also become perfect.
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