804 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 15
beings are responsible actors and enjoyers also. The sense of enjoy-
ment in the Lord is real, but such sense in the living being is a sort of
wishful desire only. This difference in consciousness is the distinction of
the two identities, namely the Lord and the living being. Otherwise there
is no difference between the Lord and the living being. The living being
is therefore eternally one and different simultaneously. The whole instruc-
tion of the Bhagavad-gita stands on this principle.

In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord and the living beings are both described
as sanatana, or eternal, and the Lord’s abode far beyond the material sky
is also described as sanatana. The living being is invited to live in the
sandtana existence of the Lord, and the process which can help a living
being to approach the Lord’s abode, where the liberated activity of the
soul is exhibited, is called sandtana-dharma. One cannot, however, reach
the eternal abode of the Lord without being free from the misconception
of material identification, and the Bhagavad-gita gives us the clue how to
achieve this stage of perfection. The process of being liberated from the
misconception of material identification is called, in different stages,
fruitive activity, empiric philosophy and devotional service, up to tran-
scendental realization. Such transcendental realization is made possible by
dovetailing all the above items in relation with the Lord. Prescribed duties
of the human being, as directed in the Vedas, can gradually purify the
sinful mind of the conditioned soul and raise him to the stage of know-
ledge. The purified stage of acquiring knowledge becomes the basis of
devotional service of the Lord. As long as one is engaged in researching
the solution of the problems of life, it is called jriana, or purified know-
ledge, but on realizing the actual solution of life, one becomes situated in
the devotional service of the Lord. The Bhagavad-gita begins with the
problems of life by discriminating the soul from the elements of matter
and proves by all reason and argument that the soul is indestructible in all
circumstances and that the outer covering of matter, the body and the
mind, change for another term of material existence which is full of
miseries. The Bhagavad-gita is therefore meant for terminating all different
types of miseries, and Arjuna took shelter of this great knowledge which
was imparted to him before, during the Kuruksetra battle.

TEXT 28

ad vara
ud Feaaat fron: supcatteey |
ercaafesa TeTSSA AS ATC
