Bg. 4.

10
वीतरागभयक्रोधा मन्मया मामुपाश्रितााः ।
बहवो ज्ञानतपसा पूता मद्ावमागतााः ॥ १० ॥
vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā
man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ
bahavo jñāna-tapasā
pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ

Synonyms
vīta — freed from; rāga — attachment; bhaya — fear; krodhāḥ — and anger; mat-mayāḥ — fully in
Me; mām — in Me; upāśritāḥ — being fully situated; bahavaḥ — many; jñāna — of
knowledge; tapasā — by the penance; pūtāḥ — being purified; mat-bhāvam — transcendental love
for Me; āgatāḥ — attained.

Translation
Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully
absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in
the past became purified by knowledge of Me – and thus they all
attained transcendental love for Me.

Purport
As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too
materially affected to understand the personal nature of the
Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the
bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is
almost impossible for them to understand how the Supreme can be
a person. Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a
transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and
eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable,
full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore, people in
general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed
of the personal form of the Lord. For such materialistic men, the
form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme.
Consequently they consider the Supreme to be impersonal. And
because they are too materially absorbed, the conception of
retaining the personality after liberation from matter frightens
them. When they are informed that spiritual life is also individual
and personal, they become afraid of becoming persons again, and so
they naturally prefer a kind of merging into the impersonal void.
Generally, they compare the living entities to the bubbles of the
ocean, which merge into the ocean. That is the highest perfection of
spiritual existence attainable without individual personality. This is
a kind of fearful stage of life, devoid of perfect knowledge of spiritual
existence. Furthermore there are many persons who cannot
understand spiritual existence at all. Being embarrassed by so many
theories and by contradictions of various types of philosophical
speculation, they become disgusted or angry and foolishly conclude
that there is no supreme cause and that everything is ultimately
void. Such people are in a diseased condition of life. Some people are
too materially attached and therefore do not give attention to
spiritual life, some of them want to merge into the supreme spiritual
cause, and some of them disbelieve in everything, being angry at all
sorts of spiritual speculation out of hopelessness. This last class of
men take to the shelter of some kind of intoxication, and their
affective hallucinations are sometimes accepted as spiritual vision.
One has to get rid of all three stages of material consciousness:
attachment to material life, fear of a spiritual personal identity, and
the conception of void that arises from frustration in life. To get free
from these three stages of the material concept of life, one has to take
complete shelter of the Lord, guided by the bona fide spiritual
master, and follow the disciplines and regulative principles of
devotional life. The last stage of the devotional life is called bhāva, or
transcendental love of Godhead.

According to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.4.15–16), the science of

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-

athāsaktis tato bhāvas

“In the beginning one must have a preliminary desire for self-
realization. This will bring one to the stage of trying to associate with
persons who are spiritually elevated. In the next stage one becomes
initiated by an elevated spiritual master, and under his instruction
the neophyte devotee begins the process of devotional service. By
execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual
master, one becomes free from all material attachment, attains
steadiness in self-realization, and acquires a taste for hearing about
the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This taste leads one
further forward to attachment for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is
matured in bhāva, or the preliminary stage of transcendental love of
God. Real love for God is called prema, the highest perfectional stage
of life.” In the prema stage there is constant engagement in the
transcendental loving service of the Lord. So, by the slow process of
devotional service, under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual
master, one can attain the highest stage, being freed from all
material attachment, from the fearfulness of one’s individual
spiritual personality, and from the frustrations that result in void
philosophy. Then one can ultimately attain to the abode of the
Supreme Lord.

Bg. 4.11
ये यथा माां प्रपद्यन्ते ताांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम् ।
मम वर्तमाानुवतान्ते मनुषयााः पाथा सवाशाः ॥ ११ ॥
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

Synonyms
ye — all who; yathā — as; mām — unto Me; prapadyante — surrender; tān — them; tathā —
so; eva — certainly; bhajāmi — reward; aham — I; mama — My; vartma — path; anuvartante —
follow; manuṣyāḥ — all men; pārtha — O son of Pṛthā; sarvaśaḥ — in all respects.

Translation
As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone
follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.

Purport
Everyone is searching for Kṛṣṇa in the different aspects of His
manifestations. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is
partially realized in His impersonal brahma-jyotir effulgence and as
the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything, including
the particles of atoms. But Kṛṣṇa is fully realized only by His pure
devotees. Consequently, Kṛṣṇa is the object of everyone’s realization,
and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one’s desire
to have Him. In the transcendental world also, Kṛṣṇa reciprocates
with His pure devotees in the transcendental attitude, just as the
devotee wants Him. One devotee may want Kṛṣṇa as supreme
master, another as his personal friend, another as his son and still
another as his lover. Kṛṣṇa rewards all the devotees equally,
according to their different intensities of love for Him. In the
material world, the same reciprocations of feelings are there, and
they are equally exchanged by the Lord with the different types of
worshipers. The pure devotees both here and in the transcendental
abode associate with Him in person and are able to render personal
service to the Lord and thus derive transcendental bliss in His loving
service. As for those who are impersonalists and who want to
commit spiritual suicide by annihilating the individual existence of
the living entity, Kṛṣṇa helps also by absorbing them into His
effulgence. Such impersonalists do not agree to accept the eternal,
blissful Personality of Godhead; consequently they cannot relish the
bliss of transcendental personal service to the Lord, having
extinguished their individuality. Some of them, who are not firmly
situated even in the impersonal existence, return to this material
field to exhibit their dormant desires for activities. They are not
admitted into the spiritual planets, but they are again given a chance
to act on the material planets. For those who are fruitive workers,
the Lord awards the desired results of their prescribed duties, as
the yajñeśvara; and those who are yogīs seeking mystic powers are
awarded such powers. In other words, everyone is dependent for
success upon His mercy alone, and all kinds of spiritual processes
are but different degrees of success on the same path. Unless,
therefore, one comes to the highest perfection of Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, all attempts remain imperfect, as is stated in
the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.3.10):
 akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta puruṣaṁ param

“Whether one is without desire [the condition of the devotees], or is

Bg. 4.13
चातुवार्ण्यं मया सृष्टां गुणकमाववभागशाः ।
तस्य कताारमवप माां ववद्ध्यकताारमव्ययम् ॥ १३ ॥
cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ
guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ
tasya kartāram api māṁ
viddhy akartāram avyayam

Synonyms
cātuḥ-varṇyam — the four divisions of human society; mayā — by Me; sṛṣṭam — created; guṇa — of
quality; karma — and work; vibhāgaśaḥ — in terms of division; tasya — of that; kartāram — the
father; api — although; mām — Me; viddhi — you may know; akartāram — as the
nondoer; avyayam — unchangeable.

Translation
According to the three modes of material nature and the work
associated with them, the four divisions of human society are
created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you
should know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchangeable.
 Purport
The Lord is the creator of everything. Everything is born of Him,
everything is sustained by Him, and everything, after annihilation,
rests in Him. He is therefore the creator of the four divisions of the
social order, beginning with the intelligent class of men, technically
called brāhmaṇas due to their being situated in the mode of
goodness. Next is the administrative class, technically called
the kṣatriyas due to their being situated in the mode of passion. The
mercantile men, called the vaiśyas, are situated in the mixed modes
of passion and ignorance, and the śūdras, or laborer class, are
situated in the ignorant mode of material nature. In spite of His
creating the four divisions of human society, Lord Kṛṣṇa does not
belong to any of these divisions, because He is not one of the
conditioned souls, a section of whom form human society. Human
society is similar to any other animal society, but to elevate men
from the animal status, the above-mentioned divisions are created
by the Lord for the systematic development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The tendency of a particular man toward work is determined by the
modes of material nature which he has acquired. Such symptoms of
life, according to the different modes of material nature, are
described in the Eighteenth Chapter of this book. A person in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, however, is above even
the brāhmaṇas. Although brāhmaṇas by quality are supposed to
know about Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth, most of them
approach only the impersonal Brahman manifestation of Lord
Kṛṣṇa. But a man who transcends the limited knowledge of
a brāhmaṇa and reaches the knowledge of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, becomes a person in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness – or, in other words, a Vaiṣṇava. Kṛṣṇa consciousness
includes knowledge of all different plenary expansions of Kṛṣṇa,
namely Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, etc. And as Kṛṣṇa is transcendental
to this system of the four divisions of human society, a person in
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is also transcendental to all divisions of human
society, whether we consider the divisions of community, nation or
species.

Bg. 4.34
तविद्धि प्रश्रणपातेन पररप्रश्ेन सेवया ।
उपदे क्ष्यन्न्त ते ज्ञानां ज्ञावननस्तत्त्वदर्शिनाः ॥ ३४ ॥
tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

Synonyms
tat — that knowledge of different sacrifices; viddhi — try to understand; praṇipātena — by
approaching a spiritual master; paripraśnena — by submissive inquiries; sevayā — by the
rendering of service; upadekṣyanti — they will initiate; te — you; jñānam — into
knowledge; jñāninaḥ — the self-realized; tattva — of the truth; darśinaḥ — seers.

Translation
Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master.
Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him.
The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because
they have seen the truth.

Purport
The path of spiritual realization is undoubtedly difficult. The Lord
therefore advises us to approach a bona fide spiritual master in the
line of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. No one can be a
bona fide spiritual master without following this principle of
disciplic succession. The Lord is the original spiritual master, and a
person in the disciplic succession can convey the message of the
Lord as it is to his disciple. No one can be spiritually realized by
manufacturing his own process, as is the fashion of the foolish
pretenders. The Bhāgavatam (6.3.19) says, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād
bhagavat-praṇītam: the path of religion is directly enunciated by the
Lord. Therefore, mental speculation or dry arguments cannot help
lead one to the right path. Nor by independent study of books of
knowledge can one progress in spiritual life. One has to approach a
bona fide spiritual master to receive the knowledge. Such a spiritual
master should be accepted in full surrender, and one should serve
the spiritual master like a menial servant, without false prestige.
Satisfaction of the self-realized spiritual master is the secret of
advancement in spiritual life. Inquiries and submission constitute
the proper combination for spiritual understanding. Unless there is
submission and service, inquiries from the learned spiritual master
will not be effective. One must be able to pass the test of the spiritual
master, and when he sees the genuine desire of the disciple, he
automatically blesses the disciple with genuine spiritual
understanding. In this verse, both blind following and absurd
inquiries are condemned. Not only should one hear submissively
from the spiritual master, but one must also get a clear
understanding from him, in submission and service and inquiries. A
bona fide spiritual master is by nature very kind toward the disciple.
Therefore when the student is submissive and is always ready to
render service, the reciprocation of knowledge and inquiries
becomes perfect.