INVOCATION- Meditation on the Gita
by Sri Shankaracharya
Purports by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Text rendered into verse by Hayagriva Das

(Sri Shankaracharya—or Shankara—is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva, according to Padma Purana. Appearing in India in the 6th century A.D., he singlehandedly drove the Buddhist philosophy out of India and re-established Vedic culture, all in his short lifetime of 32 years. Although he took up the impersonalist guise to better battle the Buddhists-impersonalism is much akin to Buddhism-the commentary rendered below, as well as other writings, reveal him to be, in actuality, devoted to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna. Shankara's most famous treatise is Vivekachudamani.)

(1) O Bhagavad-gita, Through Thy eighteen chapters Thou showers upon Man
The immortal nectar Of the wisdom of the Absolute O blessed Gita By Thee Lord Krishna Himself Enlightened Arjuna. Afterward, the ancient sage Vyasa Included Thee in the Mahabharata O loving Mother, Destroyer of Man's rebirth Into the darkness of this mortal world, Upon Thee I meditate.

(2) Salutations to thee, O Vyasa. Thou art of mighty intellect, And thine eyes Are large as the petals Of the full-blown lotus. It was thou Who brightened this lamp of wisdom, Filling it with the oil Of the Mahabarata.

PURPORT
Srimad Shankaracharya was an impersonalist from the materialist point of view. But he never denied the spiritual form known as sat-chit-ananda vigrata or the eternal allblissful form of knowledge which existed before the material creation. When he spoke of Supreme Brahman as impersonal he did not mean that the Lord's sat-chitananda form was to be confused with a material conception of Personality. In the very beginning of his commentary on the Gita, he maintains that Narayana, the Supreme Lord, is transcendental personality, and He has nothing to do with the material personality. Lord Krishna is the same Supreme Personality and has no connection with the material body. He descends in His spiritual eternal form, but foolish people mistake His body as like unto ours. Shankara's preaching of impersonalism is especially meant for teaching foolish persons who consider Krishna to be an ordinary man composed of matter.

Nobody would care to read the Gita if it had been spoken by a material man, and certainly Vyasadeva wouldn't have even bothered to incorporate it into the history of the Mahabharata. According to the above verses, Mahabharata is the history of the ancient world and Vyasadeva is the writer of this great epic. Bhagavad-gita is identical with Krishna; and because Krishna is the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no difference between Krishna and His words. Therefore the Gita is as worshipable as Lord Krishna Himself, both being Absolute. One who hears Bhagavad-Gita "as is" actually hears the words directly from the lotus lips of the Lord. But unfortunate persons say that the Gita is too antiquated for the modern man who wants to find out God by speculation or meditation.

(3) I salute Thee, O Krishna, O Thou, Who art the refuge Of ocean-born Lakshmi And all who take refuge At Thy lotus feet. Thou art indeed The wish-fulfilling tree For Thy devotee. Thy one hand holds a staff For driving cows, And Thy other hand is raised—
The thumb touching the tip Of Thy forefinger, Indicating divine knowledge. Salutations to Thee, O Supreme Lord, For Thou art the milker Of the ambrosia of the Gita.

PURPORT
Srimad Shankaracharya explicitly says, "You fools, just worship Govinda and that Bhagavad-gita spoken by Narayana Himself," yet foolish people still conduct their
research work to find out Narayan; consequently they are wretched and waste their time for nothing. Narayana is never wretched nor daridra; rather, He is worshipped
by the goddess of fortune, Lakshmi, as well as all living entities. Shankara declared himself to be "Brahman," but he admits Narayana or Krishna to be the Supreme Personality who is beyond the material creation. He offers his respects to Krishna as the Supreme Brahman or Param Brahman because He (Krishna) is worshipable by everyone. Only the fools and enemies of Krishna who cannot understand what Bhagavad-gita is (though they make commentaries on it) say, "It is not personal Krishna to whom we have to surrender ourselves utterly, but to the unborn, beginningless eternal who speaks through Krishna." Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Whereas Shankara, the greatest of the impersonalists, offers his due respects to Krishna and His book Bhagavadgita, the foolish say that "it is not to the Personal Krishna." Such unenlightened people do not know that Krishna is Absolute and that there is no difference between His inside and outside. The difference between inside and outside is experienced in the dual material world. In the Absolute World there is no such difference because in the Absolute everything is spiritual (sat-chit-ananda) and Narayana or Krishna belongs to the Absolute World. In the absolute world there is only the factual personality, and there is no distinction between body and soul.

(4) The Upanishads Are as a herd of cows, Lord Krishna, son of a cowherd, Is their milker, Arjuna is the calf, The supreme nectar of the Gita Is the milk, And the wise man Of a purified intellect Is the drinker.

PURPORT
Unless one understands spiritual variegatedness, one cannot understand the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. In the Brahma Samhita it is said that Krishna's
name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and paraphernalia are all anandachinmayarasa—in short, everything of His transcendental association is of the same composition of spiritual bliss, knowledge and eternity. There is no end to His name, form, etc., unlike the material world where all things have their end. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, only fools deride Him, whereas it is Shankara, the greatest impersonalist, who worships Him, His cows and His pastimes as the son of Vasudeva and pleasure of Devaki.

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