TEXT 45

                        trai-gunya-visaya veda
                        nistrai-gunyo bhavarjuna
                     nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho
                          niryoga-ksema atmavan
  
trai-gunya--pertaining to the three modes of material nature;
visayah--on the subject matter; vedah--Vedic literatures;
nistrai-gunyah--transcendental to the three modes of material nature;
bhava--be; arjuna--O Arjuna; nirdvandvah--without duality;
nitya-sattva-sthah--in a pure state of spiritual existence;
niryoga-ksemah--free from ideas of gain and protection;
atma-van--established in the self.
    
                              TRANSLATION

 The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material
nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes. Be free
from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be
established in the self.
  
                                PURPORT

 All material activities involve actions and reactions in the three
modes of material nature. They are meant for fruitive results, which
cause bondage in the material world. The Vedas deal mostly with fruitive
activities to gradually elevate the general public from the field of
sense gratification to a position on the transcendental plane. Arjuna,
as a student and friend of Lord Krsna, is advised to raise himself to
the transcendental position of Vedanta philosophy where, in the
beginning, there is brahma-jijnasa, or questions on the supreme
transcendence. All the living entities who are in the material world are
struggling very hard for existence. For them the Lord, after creation of
the material world, gave the Vedic wisdom advising how to live and get
rid of the material entanglement. When the activities for sense
gratification, namely the karma-kanda chapter, are finished, then the
chance for spiritual realization is offered in the form of the
Upanisads, which are part of different Vedas, as the Bhagavad-gita is a
part of the fifth Veda, namely the Mahabharata. The Upanisads mark the
beginning of transcendental life.

 As long as the material body exists, there are actions and reactions in
the material modes. One has to learn tolerance in the face of dualities
such as happiness and distress, or cold and warmth, and by tolerating
such dualities become free from anxieties regarding gain and loss. This
transcendental position is achieved in full Krsna consciousness when one
is fully dependent on the good will of Krsna.

Bhagavad-Gita As It is
Books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami


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