—2—
Salutations to thee, O Vyāsa.
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 Mahābhārata.
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 Mahābhārata.
Purport
Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya was an impersonalist from the materialistic point of view. But he never denied the spiritual form known as sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, or the eternal, all-blissful form of knowledge that existed before the material creation. When he spoke of the Supreme Brahman as impersonal, he meant that the Lord's sac-cid-ānanda form was not to be confused with a material conception of personality. In the very beginning of his commentary on the Gītā, he maintains that Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Lord, is transcendental to the material creation. The Lord existed before the creation as the transcendental personality, and He has nothing to do with material personality. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the same Supreme Personality, and He has no connection with a material body. He descends in His spiritual, eternal form, but foolish people mistake His body to be like ours. Śaṅkara's preaching of impersonalism is especially meant for teaching foolish persons who consider Kṛṣṇa to be an ordinary man composed of matter.
No one would care to read the Gītā if it had been spoken by a material man, and certainly Vyāsadeva would not have bothered to incorporate it into the history of the Mahābhārata. According to the above verses, the Mahābhārata is the history of the ancient world, and Vyāsadeva is the writer of this great epic. The Bhagavad-gītā is identical with Kṛṣṇa; and because Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and His words. Therefore the Bhagavad-gītā is as worshipable as Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, both being absolute. One who hears the Bhagavad-gītā "as is" actually hears the words directly from the lotus lips of the Lord. But unfortunate persons say that the Gītā is too antiquated for the modern man, who wants to find out God by speculation or meditation.