Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 18.75

vyāsa-prasādāc chrutavān

etad guhyam aham param

yogam yogeśvarāt krishnāt

sākshāt kathayatah svayam

SYNONYMS

vyāsa-prasādāt — by the mercy of Vyāsadeva; śrutavān — have heard; etat — this; guhyam — confidential; aham — I; param — the supreme; yogam — mysticism; yoga-īśvarāt — from the master of all mysticism; krishnāt — from Krishna; sākshāt — directly; kathayatah — speaking; svayam — personally.

TRANSLATION

By the mercy of Vyāsa, I have heard these most confidential talks directly from the master of all mysticism, Krishna, who was speaking personally to Arjuna.

PURPORT

Vyāsa was the spiritual master of Sañjaya, and Sañjaya admits that it was by Vyāsa's mercy that he could understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that one has to understand Krishna not directly but through the medium of the spiritual master. The spiritual master is the transparent medium, although it is true that the experience is still direct. This is the mystery of the disciplic succession. When the spiritual master is bona fide, then one can hear Bhagavad-gītā directly, as Arjuna heard it. There are many mystics and yogīs all over the world, but Krishna is the master of all yoga systems. Krishna's instruction is explicitly stated in Bhagavad-gītā — surrender unto Krishna. One who does so is the topmost yogī. This is confirmed in the last verse of the Sixth Chapter. Yoginām api sarveshām.

Nārada is the direct disciple of Krishna and the spiritual master of Vyāsa. Therefore Vyāsa is as bona fide as Arjuna because he comes in the disciplic succession, and Sañjaya is the direct disciple of Vyāsa. Therefore by the grace of Vyāsa, Sañjaya's senses were purified, and he could see and hear Krishna directly. One who directly hears Krishna can understand this confidential knowledge. If one does not come to the disciplic succession, he cannot hear Krishna; therefore his knowledge is always imperfect, at least as far as understanding Bhagavad-gītā is concerned.

In Bhagavad-gītā, all the yoga systems — karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga — are explained. Krishna is the master of all such mysticism. It is to be understood, however, that as Arjuna was fortunate enough to understand Krishna directly, so, by the grace of Vyāsa, Sañjaya was also able to hear Krishna directly. Actually there is no difference between hearing directly from Krishna and hearing directly from Krishna via a bona fide spiritual master like Vyāsa. The spiritual master is the representative of Vyāsadeva also. Therefore, according to the Vedic system, on the birthday of the spiritual master the disciples conduct the ceremony called Vyāsa-pūjā.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness