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show them special mercy, I, dwelling in
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"To
show them special mercy, I, dwelling in
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Voidness Arises from Frustration Posted April 29, 2004 Bhagavad-gita As It Is 4.10 vita-raga-bhaya-krodha "Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me— and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me." Purport First Edition: One has to get rid of all three stages of attachment to the material world: negligence of spiritual life, fear of a spiritual personal identity, and the conception of void that underlies the frustration of life. Second Edition: . . . and the conception of void that arises from frustration in life. A Critic Says: So it is not difficult to see here that the editing has COMPLETELY changed the meaning and the original point has been COMPLETY [sic] lost. The original, approved by Srila Prabhupada, says void philosophy causes frustration whereas Jayadvaita's says void philosophy "arises from frustration". My Comments: The critic's right about one thing, of course: The meaning has changed. Saying that the philosophy of voidness "arises from frustration" is different— in fact, opposite— from saying that it "underlies frustration." Both statements, of course, are justifiable. But which one did Srila Prabhupada intend? The philosophy of voidness brings one to frustration? Or frustration brings one to the philosophy of voidness? Looking at the original manuscript doesn't really answer the question: "One has to get rid of all these three stages of attachment to the material world, fear of personal identity, and voidness under frustration of life." Still not clear. Then let's take a step back. When we read the purport, we see that Srila Prabhupada is describing attachment (raga), fear (bhaya), and anger (krodha). Now, to answer our question we need only read a little earlier in the purport. Describing the persons affected by krodha (anger), Srila Prabhupada writes: "Being embarrassed by so many theories and by contradictions of various types of philosophical speculation, they become disgusted or angry and foolishly conclude that there is no supreme cause and that everything is ultimately void." There it is: Being disgusted or angry— frustrated by contradictory theories— they conclude that everything is void.
In other words: From frustration comes the philosophy of voidness. The philosophy arises from frustration. Srila Prabhupada answers the question. The second edition is correct. As a doublecheck: In this purport, Srila Prabhupada closely follows the purport given to this verse by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. There— at exactly the same point in the discussion— Srila Bhaktivinoda says, krodha vistha citte sunya o nirvana kei parama tattva boliya sthir koren: "Being angry in mind, they say that voidness and impersonalism are the supreme truth." Confirmed. The conception of void arises from frustration in life. Hare Krsna. Website This message also appears on the following web page: Interested in the differences between the first and second editions of Bhagavad-gita As It Is? You'll find more than 150 examples at this address: www.krishna.com/newsite/GitaRevsExplained.html There you'll see the published versions side by side with the text of the original manuscripts. And the graphic format of the web helps you see at a glance what the revisions are and where they're coming from. For anyone who has concerns about the editing of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, this is a must-see. Subscription And Copyright Information This is an "information-only" conference, not a discussion conference. The only person who can post texts to it is me. (Queries and comments may be sent to me privately.) The conference is public. If you are a member of the PAMHO e-mail system, you can join or leave it on your own— no need to send a request to the Sysop or to me. E-mail users who are not on PAMHO can join or leave the conference by sending me a request at <jayadvaita.swami@pamho.net>. The First and Second Editions of Bhagavad-gita As It Is are © 1972, 1983 by The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Except where I have included quotations from non-BBT sources, the rest of this message, and of the conference as a whole, is © 1999-2004 by The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. All rights reserved. Hare Krsna. © dipika.org April 29, 2004 |
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