Chapter 18Final Revelations of the Ultimate TruthVerse 10

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Anvaya

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Commentaries of the Four Authorized Vaisnava Sampradayas

as confirmed in the Garga Samhita Canto 10, Chapter 61, Verses 23, 24, 25, 26
Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Visnuswami

Sridhara Swami's Commentary

The characteristics of one well established by renunciation in sattva guna or the mode of goodness is that they are permeated and saturated through and through with goodness. They are neither ruffled by disagreeable duties such as taking predawn bath in the cold of winter nor do they relish agreeable duties such as taking noon bath in the heat of summer. The reason is that the mentality of such a one is constant and steady and discriminative even if criticised and humiliated by others due to misunderstanding their state of equipoise endures. Those situated in sattva guna have even renounced the pleasures of heaven and the desire for liberation so what to say of paltry subjections to the painful and the temporary influence of the pleasurable? Therefore any doubts or queries due to incorrect understanding in the performance of prescribed Vedic activities regarding bodily comfort and bodily discomfort has been conclusively resolved.

Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Madhvacarya

Madhvacarya's Commentary

The qualified aspirant would never shun or disregard prescribed Vedic activities merely because they contained an element of discomfort or difficulty. Such a qualified one would simply look at it as tapah or penance because the merit of meritorious austerities performed over the course of many lives are not to be wasted in the temporary enjoyments of the heavenly planets. The qualified aspirant who knows the fundamental principles of karma or reactions to actions and bhakti or exclusive loving devotion to the Supreme Lord, joyfully surrender all their actions without any desire for rewards for the satisfaction of Lord Krishna or any of His authorised incarnations and expansions as revealed in Vedic scriptures. In this way one is not enslaved into bondage by karma because prescribed Vedic activities unto the Supreme Lord do not incur or accrue any karma whatsoever at any time in any situation or circumstance.

Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Ramanuja

Ramanuja's Commentary

The aspirant who renounces both the desire for rewards as well as any ego- sense as the doer is fully in sattva guna the mode of goodness. Situated in correct knowledge and hence free from all doubts such a one is neither besieged by unrighteous acts nor relieved from righteous acts. Righteous acts are those that bestow positive reactions such as progeny, cows, entry into the heavenly planets, etc. An unrighteous act is that which one may accidentally or unintentionally commit that will accrue negative reactions such as misery, pain, entry to the hellish planets, etc. It should not be misconstrued that final emancipation applies to anyone who deliberately engages in unrighteous activities for the Katha Upanisad I,II.XXIV beginning na virato duscharitanna shanto states: One who has not desisted from evil unrighteous actions or who is of unrestrained mind can never achieve final emancipation even if one is a paragon of intellect and knowledge.

In as much as the ego-sense is absent there is no impetus to exhibit aversion or attraction for either one or the other and since all other goals have been relinquished and resigned with the exception of moksa or final emancipation from material existence and communion with the Supreme Lord Krishna or any of His authorised incarnations as revealed in Vedic scriptures then one is truly established in ultimate renunciation. Thus the conclusion is that relinquishing all ego-sense of authorship and abandoning any desire for rewards is actual renunciation and not mere abstention from actions.

Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Nimbaditya

Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary

Lord Krishna explains that the aspirant who is imbued and saturated with sattva guna the mode of goodness has achieved spiritual knowledge by renunciation and possess discrimination regarding spirit and matter. The word medhavi means superior intelligence, which bequeathes upon one the faculty of retentive focus which gives the ability to comprehend the ultimate truth through any experience. Such a one neither abhors that which is undesirable nor seeks that which is desirable. Such a one does not avoid prescribed Vedic activities because they may cause discomfort such as: predawn bath daily in the cold of winter or following ekadasi by fasting from all grains on the 11th day of the waxing and waning moons and staying up all night chanting sacred incantations and meditating, etc. Such a one never gets attached to that which gives comfort and a sense of well being such as eating rich vegetarian foods, enjoying the pleasantness of beautiful environments, etc. The purport is that such a one is prepared to undergo comfort or discomfort in executing prescribed Vedic activities without attachment.

Thus ends commentaries of chapter 18, verse 10 of the Srimad Bhagavad-Gita.

Verse 10


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