I have one QUESTION: Some people say that in mahabharata it is written that after MAHABHARATA war Lord Krishna forgot the knowledge of BG.
That is - when Arjuna requested Krishna to repeat the knowledge of GITA he told I am not able to recall it and chastised Arjuna for forgetting so important knowledge.
Shloka quoted by these people goes as follows:
"na shakyam tad mayaa bhuyah tathaa vaktum asheshtah |
param hi brahma kathitam yogayukten tad mayaa ||"
Translation: To repeat that (knowledge) word-to-word again is not possible for me. At that time I told that knowledge of parabrahma by being yogayukta .
IS THIS TRUE? IF YES THEN,..................
What is the reason for this? Please tell me ...................
Vaisampayana said, "The son of Pritha (Arjuna), having recovered his own kingdom, joyously spent his time, without doing anything else, in the company of Krishna, his heart filled with delight, in that palace of celestial beauty. One day, those two listlessly proceeded to a particular part of the palace that looked, O king, like a veritable portion of Heaven. Themselves filled with delight, they were then surrounded by their relatives and attendents. Pandu's son, Arjuna, filled with joy in the company of Krishna, surveyed that delightful mansion, and then addressed his companion, saying, 'O--mighty-armed one, thy greatness became known to me upon the approach of the battle. O son of Devaki, thy form also, as the Lord of the universe, then became known to me! What thy holy self said unto me at that time, O Kesava, through affection, has all been forgotten by me, O chief of men, in consequence of the fickleness of my mind. Repeatedly, however, have I been curious on the subject of those truths. Thou again, O Madhava, wilt repair to Dwaraka soon.'
Vaisampayana continued, 'Thus addressed by him, Krishna of mighty
p. 24
energy, that foremost of speakers, embraced Phalguna and replied unto him as follows.
'Vasudeva said, 'I made thee listen to truths that are regarded as mysteries. I imparted to thee truths that are eternal. Verily, I discoursed to thee on Religion in its true form and on all the eternal regions. It is exceedingly disagreeable to me to learn that thou didst not, from folly, receive what I imparted. The recollection of all that I told thee on that occasion will not come to me now. Without doubt, O son of Pandu, thou art destitute of faith and thy understanding is not good. It is impossible for me, O Dhananjaya, to repeat, in detail, all that I said on that occasion. That religion (about which I discoursed to thee then) is more than sufficient for understanding Brahma. I cannot discourse on it again in detail. I discoursed to thee on Supreme Brahma, having concentrated myself in Yoga. I shalt now, however, recite to thee an old history upon the same topic.
Acarya commentaries should be consulted. I don't have any with me so I'll reply in general.
Mbh has two levels - dharma and paradharma (bhakti). While on the dharma level Krsna plays the role of a king who sometimes breaks promises, gets cursed, forgets things, etc., on the paradharma level this is all understood to be His lila. He's the Supreme Lord. Sometimes the lila is meant to confuse unqualified people.
Madhvacharya comments in Mahabharata-tatparya-nirnaya on the apparent imperfections of the Lord in His appearances in this world:
"Hari Himself, for the delusion of the Daityas, shows sometimes ignorance, or dependence, or pain, or dismemberment, or the possession of a physical body, or the loss of it, etc., or want of capacity or suffering, or equality with, or even inferiority to others." (1.38-39)
"Through this Hari is the Lord of the Devas, and controls the entire universe, still He always does act like a feeble agriculturalist. With clouded mind, He does not know Himself; sorrowful, He searches for Sita; He was bound by Indrajit; all this and more is His play for deluding the Asuras. He becomes senseless by instrumental blow, and has His skin cut; and blood flows. Not knowing Himself, He ask others; leaving His body, He departed to heaven. The Lord displayed all this though it didn't really exist, as if He were an actor, for the delusion of the Asuras. The devas knew this to be false." (2.81-82)
Hare Krishna I revisited this dialog and checked its sanskrit verses and also talked with very senior devotee in our society who replied:
" While it is true that Krishna said he could not repeat the exact teachings of the Gita, he gave no exact reason. But it could NOT be that he had FORGOTTEN them because unlike us, Krishna NEVER forgets. It was simply that he did not want to again say them and instead he spoke other teachings.
According to my little knowledge about sanskrit language I think the above statements are perfect Because there is no sanskrit verse in
whose English translation is "> The RECOLLECTION of all that I told thee on that occasion will not come to me now. "
9 śrāvitas tvaṃ mayā guhyaṃ jñāpitaś ca sanātanam dharmaṃ svarūpiṇaṃ pārtha sarvalokāṃś ca śāśvatān 10 abuddhvā yan na gṛhṇīthās tan me sumahad apriyam nūnam aśraddadhāno 'si durmedhāś cāsi pāṇḍava 11 sa hi dharmaḥ suparyāpto brahmaṇaḥ padavedane na śakyaṃ tan mayā bhūyas tathā vaktum aśeṣataḥ 12 paraṃ hi brahma kathitaṃ yogayuktena tan mayā itihāsaṃ tu vakṣyāmi tasminn arthe purātanam 13 yathā tāṃ buddhim āsthāya gatim agryāṃ gamiṣyasi śṛṇu dharmabhṛtāṃ śreṣṭha gadataḥ sarvam eva me 14 āgacchad brāhmaṇaḥ kaś cit svargalokād ariṃdama brahmalokāc ca durdharṣaḥ so 'smābhiḥ pūjito 'bhavat 15 asmābhiḥ paripṛṣṭaś ca yad āha bharatarṣabha divyena vidhinā pārtha tac chṛṇuṣvāvicārayan
That senior devotee further told me
""We can only really speculate as to the reason as we do not have the benefit of any commentaries by accepted authorities. Possibly Nilakantha or others may have commented, but I have not seen this and so I can only guess that this was part of Krishna's loving exchange with Arjuna. Arjuna was confused out of love, bewildered by the imminent departure of Krishna and he therefore said that he wanted Krishna to relieve him by again speaking the Gita. But this was a different situation entirely from Kuruksetra when Arjuna was apparently under maha maya. Krishna therefore chose to say something else. He lovingly chided Arjuna for "forgetting" the Gita and said he would not speak it again. That was his sweet will, but we should never conclude that Krishna can ever be in any kind of illusion"".
I take the conversation in the same way that we are advised to take the Bhagavad-gita:
In the Bhagavad-gita Arjuna represents us, the conditioned soul bewildered about what to do in life and harrassed by so many problems which are solved when he is convinced Krishna is the Supreme Lord and decides to act for His pleasure. In this lila after the war Arjuna again represents the conditioned soul: despite having heard the supreme spritual science he still forgot and wanted/needed to be reminded. Krishna does explain it again, but shows His displeasure at having to do so.
This dynamic is a perfect representation of the situation of us the conditioned soul: We hear the supreme truth, remember it for some time and then forget. Krishna and guru are certainly not happy about our repeated forgetfullness, but still they explain it again for our benefit.
From the sanskrit the word 'jnapitas' means remembrance. This is the verse "śrāvitas tvaṃ mayā guhyaṃ jñāpitaś ca sanātanam dharmaṃ svarūpiṇaṃ pārtha sarvalokāṃś ca śāśvatān" Anybody will give the same translation. "paraṃ hi brahma kathitaṃ yogayuktena tan mayā itihāsaṃ tu vakṣyāmi tasminn arthe purātanam" I discoursed to thee on Supreme Brahma, having concentrated myself in Yoga. I shall now, however, recite to thee an old history upon the same topic.
Lord Krishna, speaking as the Supreme Brahman in the battlefield of Kurukshetra expounded His message, since He is Yogeshwara - the Master of Yoga. Yoga meaning 'to Unite'.
There is no delusion involved here. This explains why Lord Krishna says He puts His seed in the mahad-brahma (Srimad BG 14.3) (cf. Rig Veda X.121, Manu Smriti Ch 1.5-12, MhB Santi Parva SECTION CCCIII) and why one must become one with the manifest Brahman (SBG 14.26), since He is the prathishtha or foundation of the mahad-brahman (SBG 14.27)
Ultimately, that which is beyond this Brahmam, is what is called the Unmanifest, which is the abode of Purusha. (SBG 8.20) Having attained which, no one returns to the Manifest mahad-Brahma which is subject to creation and annihilation.
