GITA - Glorification of Chapter Eleven

Thereafter 

Lord Shiva

 narrated to 

Parvati

 the glories of the eleventh chapter of the 

Bhagavad-gita. 

In Meghankara, the town of the famous temple of Jagad-ishvara, “the controller of the universe,” there lived a pure brahmana named Sunanda. He remained a brahmacari - a celibate, all his life. Sunanda often sat in front of Lord Jagad-ishvara and recited the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita and remembered the Lord’s universal form. By reciting chapter eleven, Sunanda gained complete control over his senses and was always able lo remember Jagad-ishvara.

Once Sunanda and his associates went on a pilgrimage. One day they reached a town called Vivaha-mandapa, where they took rest in a guesthouse for pilgrims, but when Sunanda woke up, he found all his associates gone, and so he at once went out to look for them. After some time, Sunanda met the mayor of the town, who couldn’t say where Sunanda’s associates were but who fell at Sunanda’s feet because he could see that as a devotee Sunanda had no equal. When the mayor invited him to stay in the town, Sunanda agreed.

After eight days, a villager approached Sunanda, crying loudly because his son had been eaten by a Rakshasa, an evil being. Sunanda inquired, “Where does that Rakshasa stay, and how did he eat your son?” The villager replied that this demon was eating villagers every day. Because of that, the villagers had requested the demon to protect them in exchange for daily food. To arrange for the demon’s meals of human beings, the villagers had built a guesthouse, and all travelers were sent there. While the travelers slept, the Rakshasa would eat them, and in this way the villagers were safe.

The villager then explained how his son had been eaten. The night before, a friend of his son had come and the villager, not knowing who the friend was, had sent him to the guesthouse. The son soon found out and tried to rescue the friend, but by the time the son got to the guest-house it was too late: his friend had already been eaten. And unfortunately for the son, he too was eaten, along with some travelers.

Afterwards, the villager had gone to the Rakshasa and asked why the Rakshasa had eaten the villager’s son along with the travelers. The villager also asked if there was any possibility of getting the son back. The Rakshasa replied that he had been unaware of the presence of the son and so had ate him along with everyone else. There was, however, a way to get him back, but only when the Rakshasa was freed from his demonic body by the mercy of a person who had daily recited the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita.

The Rakshasa said that there was a brahmana whom he had not eaten because somehow he knew that the brahmana regularly recited the eleventh chapter. If this brahmana would recite the chapter and then sprinkle water on him, the Rakshasa would be freed from the curse.

Thereafter Sunanda inquired what sin this person had performed lo attain a Rakshasa body, and the villager replied by telling the Rakshasa’s story. Once a farmer saw a vulture attack someone in the fields, but the farmer did nothing about it even though he stood just a short distance away. When a 

yogi

 passing by saw what was happening, he tried to help but was too late. The yogi then became angry with the farmer and told him that one who helps others in need pleases Lord Vishnu, whereas one who can help others but does not do so is liable to be punished by 

Yamaraja,

 made to suffer in hell, and then be born as a wolf. The yogi then cursed the farmer to be born as a Rakshasa.

But the farmer said, “I was watching the fields the whole night, and I was quite tired, so kindly be merciful to me.” The yogi replied, “When someone who daily recites the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita sprinkles water on your head, then you will be free of this curse.” After telling this story, the villager asked Sunanda to kindly sprinkle water on the head of the Rakshasa. Sunanda agreed.

When they went to the Rakshasa, Sunanda recited the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. And as he sprinkled water on the Rakshasa’s head, the creature at once attained a four-armed form like that of Lord Vishnu. More astonishing not only the Rakshasa but also the thousands of people he had eaten attained the same type of spiritual form and were all ready to depart for 

Vaikuntha.

 Before they could go, however the villager stopped them and wanted to know which one was his son, because the villager wanted him to return home.

Then one of those beautiful persons said, “My dear sir, many times you have been my son and I have been yours, but now by the grace of this great devotee Sunanda I have been released from birth and death. Now I am going to my real home, Vaikuntha. “Dear sir, kindly surrender to Sunanda and hear from him the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita because then you also will be able to attain the abode of Lord Vishnu. Of this there is no doubt. Lord Krishna spoke these nectarean instructions on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra as a reply to Arjuna’s questions. Only by hearing and reciting this discourse can one cut the tight knot binding us to the cycle of birth and death.”

Thereupon the son and all those other fortunate souls left for Vaikuntha. Later the villager learned the eleventh chapter of theBhagavad-gita from Sunanda, and shortly thereafter both he and Sunanda went to Vaikuntha.

source: ISKCON

GITA - Glorification of Chapter Ten

Thereafter 

Lord Shiva

 said that in Kasipuri there was a peaceful brahmana named Dhira-buddhi, whose senses and mind were fixed in glorification of Lord Krishna. Wherever Dhira-buddhi went, Lord Shiva served and protected him with great love.

Seeing those activities of Lord Shiva, his eternal servant Bhringiriti asked him what this great devotee had done to merit Lord Shiva’s personal service. Lord Shiva then narrated a story. Once as he sat in the moonlight, a sudden great wind made the trees shake wildly. A shadow was cast all around, and a large bird of the color of a rain-cloud appeared. The bird said to Lord Shiva, “O Mahadeva, all glories to you, the shelter of all. Your glories are limitless because you protect the devotees, and you are the foremost devotee of the Supreme Lord, Krishna. Great souls like Brihaspati, the preceptor of the 

demigods, 

sing your glories. But even the thousand-headed 

Ananta-Shesa

 cannot fully describe your glories, so what to speak of a swan like me, with such small intelligence.”

After hearing this prayer, Lord Shiva asked the swan why he had a black, crow like color. The swan, who resembled the swan carrier of Lord 

Brahma,

  told Lord Shiva a story.

Once the swan had enjoyed in a beautiful lake. But on one occasion, when he had wanted to fly off, he fell to the ground, and his body turned black. He wondered why, and then he heard a voice from lotuses in the lake. “O swan,” the voice said, “get up. I shall tell you why you fell and turned black.” The swan got up and went to the center of the lake, where he saw five extraordinarily beautiful lotuses. From the lotuses appeared a beautiful lady.

After circumambulating the lady, the swan was told that he had flown over her and thus committed an offense and become black. Because she had felt sorry for him, she had called him back. This lady obviously had extraordinary powers. She told the swan how she had attained them.

She said, “In a previous life, I was Sarojavadana, a chaste young woman, and when I married I served my husband faithfully. But one day I found a black maina bird, and because I took care of it, my service to my husband slackened. So my husband said I would become a maina in my next life, which indeed happened. But because I had been chaste, I came in contact with some sages, and one of their daughters look care of me. During my stay with them I heard recitations of the tenth chapter of the 

Bhagavad-gita

 every morning and evening. As a result, I attained the body of an apsara, a divine nymph who is fond of water and can change her form at will. In my apsara life. I was called Padmavati.

One day I saw the beautiful lotus flowers in this lake, and when I came here I started to enjoy in the water. At that time, however, 

Durvasa Muni

 arrived and saw me naked. Out of fear of him, I took on the form of five lotuses. Durvasa Muni’s eyes started to emanate fire, and he cursed me to stay in that form of lotuses for one hundred years. Fortunately enough, though, I was able to remember the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. Today I was freed from his curse. If you hear from me this tenth chapter, you will also be able to free yourself from your awkward situation.”

After completing her recitation of this tenth chapter, Padmavati left in an airplane for 

Vaikuntha.

 Thereafter the swan went to Lord Shiva and offered him a beautiful lotus from the lake and told Lord Shiva his story. When he completed his tale, he gave up his body and took birth as Dhira-buddhi. From childhood, Dhira-buddhi always chanted the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita and whoever, in whatever condition of life, would hear his recitations would attain the darshana, or audience, of Lord Vishnu. For this reason, Lord Shiva always served Dhira-buddhi.

source: ISKCON

GITA - Glorification of Chapter Nine

Then Lord  

Shiva 

related to 

Parvati 

the glories of the ninth chapter of the 

Bhagavad-gita.

  Once in a town called Mahishmati there lived a brahmana named Madhava. He strictly followed all the Vedic injunctions, and he was so learned that he always received much charity, with which he performed great sacrifices. Once, however, when he was about to offer a goat in sacrifice the goat laughed and said, “O brahmana, what benefit is there in performing these sacrifices, which simply keep one in the cycle of repeated birth and death? Just see my position after performing so many fire sacrifices.”

Madhava asked the goat what activities it had performed in previous lives to become a goat. Everyone at the sacrifice gathered around to hear the goat’s words. The goat told them that he had been a ritualistic brahmana. Because his wife had wanted her child cured of some disease, she had once asked him to offer a goat to 

Durga,

  the wife of Lord Shiva.

As the brahmana offered the goat, it cursed him: “You sinner! Lowest of all! You wish to make my children fatherless? You will also have to take birth as a goat.” So at the time of his death the brahmana had attained grace of 

Govinda 

he remembered his previous birth. The goat continued: Once in 

Kurukshetra

  there lived a king named Candrasarma, who belonged to the sun dynasty. At the time of a solar eclipse, the king decided to give a 

shudra,

 a worker, to a brahmana. After he offered this worker to the brahmana with much devotion, two of dog-eaters, appeared from the worker’s body. Both of them closely approached the brahmana, and suddenly entered his body. The brahmana, however, remained undisturbed, and while remembering Lord Govinda he began chanting the ninth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita.

The whole event stunned the king. His amazement increased, however, when the Vishnudutas, the devotees of Lord Vishnu, appeared. The Vishnudutas ousted the chandelas from the body and drove them away. Then the king asked the brahmana: “O learned one, who were those two persons, and which mantras did you chant? Which Deity did you remember?”

The brahmana explained that sin personified, accompanied by offense personified, had appeared as two candalas. And he had been chanting the ninth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, which can release one from all fearful situations. He informed the king that by chanting this chapter, anyone can remember the lotus feet of Govinda. Thereafter the king learned from the brahmana to chant the ninth chapter, and he gradually attained the lotus feet of Govinda. When Madhava heard this narration from the goat, he at once set the goat free. Thereafter Madhava recited the ninth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita daily.

source: ISKCON

GITA - Glorification of Chapter Eight

Thereafter Lord 

Shiva

 asked 

Parvati

 to listen to the glories of the eighth chapter of the 

Bhagavad-gita.

 

A brahmana of the name Bhavasharma once lived in the important town Amardakapura. He had taken a prostitute as his wife, and he enjoyed meat-eating, intoxication, stealing, adultery and hunting. Once, after a bout of drinking wine, Bhavasharma contracted a serious disease, and after many days of suffering he died and attained the body of a date palm tree.

One day, two ghosts 

(Brahma-raksasa)

  took shelter beneath this palm tree after unceasingly wandering over the earth, hungry and thirsty by their activities in a previous life, they had attained these ghostly bodies. One of them had once been the brahmana Kusibala, who had been conversant with many branches of knowledge and had been learned in the 

Vedas.

  The other ghost had been his wife, Kumati. Kusibala and his evil-minded wife, both greedy, had been in the habit of collecting much charity daily without ever giving charity to other brahmanas. When they died they both became ghosts.

So while these two ghosts were resting under the palm tree, the one who had been the wife asked her former husband how to atone. He replied that by having knowledge of Brahman, the self and 

Fruitive activities

 this could be accomplished. Upon hearing this, his wife inquired, “What is Brahman? What is the self? What are fruitive activities?” Because she spoke in Sanskrit, she coincidentally chanted the first two lines of the eighth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita.

Upon hearing these lines, Bhavasharma became freed from his tree body and again attained the body of a sinless brahmana. And suddenly a spiritual airplane appeared to take the ghostly husband and wife back to 

Vaikuntha.

 Thereafter Bhavasharma wrote down the two lines from the Bhagavad-gita and he went to Kasipuri with the intention of worshiping Lord Krishna by performing great austerities and continuously chanting these two lines: kim tad brahma kim adhyatmam kim karma purushottama. 

After some time, in Vaikuntha Lord Vishnu once unexpectedly arose from His rest. 

Lakshmi devi

  inquired with folded hands what had awakened Him. Lord Vishnu said. “My dear Lakshmi, in Kasipuri, on the bank of the river Ganges, My devotee is performing great austerities by continuously chanting half a verse of the eighth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. For a long time I have been thinking how to reward his devotion.” Lord Shiva then told Parvati that Bhavasharma pleased Lord Vishnu so much that the Lord awarded him a place in Vaikuntha to engage eternally in the service of His lotus feet. Moreover, all his ancestors also attained the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu.

source: ISKCON

GITA - Glorification of Chapter Seven

After narrating how Lord Vishnu had spoken to 

Lakshmi devi 

the glories of the first six chapters of the 

Bhagavad-gita,

 Lord 

Shiva

 said to 

Parvati,

 “Now I will tell you the glories of the Seventh Chapter.”

Lord Shiva narrated the story of Shankukarna, a brahmana occupied as a businessman. Shankukarna amassed so much wealth that kings visited his house to dine. But the miserly Shankukarna kept some of his wealth buried, concealed from his relatives, and he never performed devotional acts or the rituals for his forefathers. Once, after his fourth marriage, Shankukarna took rest for the night. While asleep, he received a snakebite and died. He attained the body of a snake-ghost, and he came to reside at the place where he had buried his wealth. Eventually he became tired of being trapped in a ghostly body, so he appeared to his sons in a dream and asked their help.

When his lazy sons woke up, they talked about their dream. Then one of them took a spade and went to the place his father had indicated. The son did not know exactly where to find the buried wealth, but he searched greedily until he found a snake hole. As he started to dig, suddenly a huge and appalling snake crawled out and asked, “Who are you? Who sent you to dig here?” Trembling for his life, the son replied: “It is me, your son, Shiva, to whom you appeared in a dream.”

The snake laughed and asked why the boy, if indeed his son, had not performed the necessary rituals to free him from hellish life. The son inquired how to do this. His father replied, “Not by any kind of charity or austerity but only by recitation from the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita will I become free from birth and death.” The father instructed his son to invite a brahmana to recite the seventh chapter during a ceremony to offer oblations to the forefathers. As this ceremony took place, the brahmana chanted the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, and Shankukarna gave up his frightful body and attained a divine four-armed form. Before he left for 

Vaikuntha

 he blessed his sons and told them the location of his wealth.

After digging it up, the sons, whose minds had become fixed in devotion to Lord Krishna, used the wealth to build temples, dig wells and holy ponds, and distribute sanctified food. Moreover, the sons daily recited the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita and quickly attained the lotus feet of Lord Krishna. Anyone who recites or hears this chapter will be freed from all sinful reactions.

source:ISKCON

GITA - Glorification of Chapter Six

Lord Vishnu then recited the glories of the sixth chapter of the 

Bhagavad-gita. 

In a beautiful town named Pratishthanapura on the bank of the Godavari River there ruled a popular king named Janashruti. He had many good qualities, and he daily performed an opulent fire sacrifice and many other pious acts: he gave charity, dug wells and lakes, and so on.

Once some demigods went to the king’s residence in the form of swans. As they flew above his palace, the demigod Bhadrashva heard several swans mention Janashruti’s greatness, but Bhadrashva laughed and asked, “Is Janashruti Maharaja as powerful as the great sage Raikva.”

The king happened to hear the swans’ conversation from the roof of his high palace, and then went down in a happy mood and ordered his charioteer to go out and find Raikva. Thus ordered, the charioteer departed for holy places. Upon arriving in Kashmir, he saw the sage sitting on a small cart near the door of a temple.

The charioteer fell at Raikva’s feet and asked him where he lived, what his full name was, and why he was sitting there. Raikva thought for some time and replied, “I am fully satisfied. I do not require anything.” The charioteer understood and returned at once to Pratishthanapura. When he arrived, he offered his respects to the king and informed him of all that had taken place. The king then decided to visit the great sage Raikva. Seated on a beautiful chariot filled with valuable gifts, he left for Kashmir.

When the king finally met Raikva and had fallen at his feet, he placed many silks and jewels before the sage. The sage, however, became angry and said, “You foolish king! Take these useless things away. Put them on your chariot and leave this place at once.” With great devotion the king fell at Raikva’s feet again and begged to be forgiven. He asked, “O sage, how have you attained such a level of renunciation and devotion to the Lord?”

Pleased by the king’s submissive attitude, Raikva replied that he had daily recited the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. There-after, King Janashruti also began to recite it daily. After some time a flower airplane appeared and took the king to 

Vaikuntha. 

Raikva, in the meantime, had also gone to Vaikuntha, where he engaged in the service of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord.

source: ISKCON

GITA - Glorification of Chapter Five

Lord Vishnu asked 

Lakshmi devi

 to listen carefully as He described the glories of the fifth chapter of the 

Bhagavad-gita.

  Once in a town named Puru-kutsapura there lived a brahmana called Pingala. Although well educated, he lacked interest in studying, and so when he reached youth he gave up his educational pursuits. Instead, he learned to play musical instruments and sing and dance. He became so skilled and famous that the king invited him to live in the palace. But his intimacy with the king made him proud, and he became fond of criticizing others; worse, he took up intoxication and adultery.

Despite his promiscuity, Pingala had a wife named Aruna, who had been born in a low-class family. She too was lusty and promiscuous, and when Pingala discovered this, Aruna murdered him.Thereafter she enjoyed life with many men, but she soon contracted a venereal disease. Her youthful body therefore became ugly, and before long she died. Both husband and wife fell into the deepest regions of hell and suffered tremendously. In their next lives, they both took birth as birds, Pingala a vulture and Aruna a parrot.

One day while the parrot searched for food, the vulture attacked her. The vulture could somehow remember his past life, and he understood that the parrot had been his wife. After a flurry of fighting, both birds fell down and drowned in a human skull filled with water. They were brought before 

Yamaraja, 

and because they vividly remembered their sins, they were frightened. But Yamaraja said, “You are now freed of all sinful reactions and may go to 

Vaikuntha.”

Dumbfounded, Pingala and Aruna asked Yamaraja how persons of their caliber had the right to enter Vaikuntha. Then Yamaraja told them about a pure devotee of Lord Vishnu who had daily recited the fifth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. When this devotee, who was completely free of lust, left his body, he went straight to Vaikuntha. Because of his recitations of Bhagavad-gita his body had also become pure. Therefore, when Pingala and Aruna, as birds, had touched his skull, both of them had achieved freedom from sinful reactions and attained the right to enter Vaikuntha.

After Pingala and Aruna heard the glories of the fifth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita they became overjoyed, and a flower airplane arrived to take them to the spiritual world.

source: ISKCON