50 Raja-vidya: The King of Knowledge

no learned sages at the time Sri Krsna was speaking
to Arjuna? No, there were many sages present at the
time. By “lost” it is meant that the purport of
Bhagavad-gita was lost. Scholars may give their own
interpretation of Bhagavad-gita, analyzing it accord-
ing to their own whims, but that is not Bhagavad-
gita. This is the point that Sri Krsna is stressing, and
a student of Bhagavad-gita should note it. A person
may be a very good scholar from the material point
of view, but that does not qualify him to comment
on Bhagavad-gita. In order to understand Bhagavad-
gita, we have to accept the principle of disciplic
succession (parampara). We must enter into the
spirit of Bhagavad-gita and not approach it simply
from the viewpoint of erudition.

Of all people, why did Sri Krgna select Arjuna as a
recipient of this knowledge? Arjuna was not a great
scholar at all, nor was he a yogi, meditator or a holy
man. He was a warrior about to engage in battle.
There were many great sages living at the time, and
Sti Krsna could have given Bhagavad-gitd to them.
The answer is that despite being an ordinary man,
Arjuna had one great qualification: bhakto ’si me
sakha ceti: ““You are My devotee and My friend.”
This was Arjuna’s exceptional qualification, a quali-
fication which the sages did not have. Arjuna knew
that Krsna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
and therefore he surrendered himself unto Him,
accepting Him as his spiritual master. Unless one is a
devotee of Lord Krsna’s, he cannot possibly under-
stand Bhagavad-gita. If one wants to understand
Bhagavad-gita, he cannot take help from other
