Almost every one of them have expressed their own opinion through the commentation of the Bhagavad-gita without touching the spirit of Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Expressions researched:
"almost every one of them have expressed their own opinion through the commentation of the Bhagavad-gītā without touching the spirit of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

In America there are so many editions of English Bhagavad-gītā, but so far I have seen them, not only in America but also India, none of them can be said strictly as authoritative, because almost every one of them have expressed their own opinion through the commentation of the Bhagavad-gītā without touching the spirit of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. The spirit of Bhagavad-gītā is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā itself. It is just like this—if we want to take a particular medicine, then we have to follow the particular direction mentioned on the label of the medicine. We cannot take the particular medicine according to our own direction or by the direction of a friend, but we have to take the medicine under the direction given on the label of the bottle and as directed by the physician. Similarly, the Bhagavad-gītā also should be taken or accepted as it is directed by the speaker Himself.

660219 - Lecture BG Introduction - New York

Introduction to Gītopaniṣad by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the author of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Easy Journey to Other Planets, editor of Back to Godhead, etc.

Bhagavad-gītā is known also Gītopaniṣad, the essence of Vedic knowledge, and one of the most important of the various Upaniṣads in Vedic literature. This Bhagavad-gītā, there are many commentations in English, and what is the necessity of another English commentation of the Bhagavad-gītā can be explained in the following way. One . . .

(break) One American lady, Mrs. Charlotte Leblanc, asked me to recommend an English edition of Bhagavad-gītā which she can read.

Of course, in America there are so many editions of English Bhagavad-gītā, but so far I have seen them, not only in America but also India, none of them can be said strictly as authoritative, because almost every one of them have expressed their own opinion through the commentation of the Bhagavad-gītā without touching the spirit of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.

The spirit of Bhagavad-gītā is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā itself. It is just like this—if we want to take a particular medicine, then we have to follow the particular direction mentioned on the label of the medicine. We cannot take the particular medicine according to our own direction or by the direction of a friend, but we have to take the medicine under the direction given on the label of the bottle and as directed by the physician. Similarly, the Bhagavad-gītā also should be taken or accepted as it is directed by the speaker Himself.

The speaker of the Bhagavad-gītā is Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is mentioned in every page of the Bhagavad-gītā as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān. Of course, "bhagavān" is sometimes designated to any powerful person or any powerful demigod, but here bhagavān is certainly designated to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, a great personality, but at the same time we must know that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as He is confirmed by all the ācāryas . . . I mean to say, even Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka Svāmī and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and many others.

In India there were many authoritative scholars and ācāryas, I mean, authorities of the Vedic knowledge. All of them, including Śaṅkarācārya, has accepted Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord Himself has also established Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Bhagavad-gītā. He is accepted so in the Brahmā-saṁhitā and all Purāṇas, especially in the Bhāgavata Purāṇam: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).