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RUDRA

Vaisnava Sampradaya

Disciplic Succession to Sridhara Swami

1) LORD KRISHNA

2) Shiva

3) Rudra

4) Visnu Swami (Founder-Acarya of the Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya)

5) Tirtha Swami

6) Sridhara Swami

Sridhara Swami's commentary authorised by the auspices of disciplic

succession.

Sridhara Swami's Commentary on Bhagavad-Gita

Invocation

OM

I bow down to the omnipotent Supreme Lord Krishna, the embodiment ofsupreme bliss, who by His own mouth expressed what had been taught with

dexterity by Ananta Sesha's innumerable mouths.

Respectfully bowing down to Vishnu the preserver of the universe and Shiva

who is in charge of universal destruction and being guided by devotion to

them, I am writing this commentary named Subodini on Srimad Bhagavad-

Gita.

After meticulously scrutinizing the opinions of Sankaracarya's commentary

on Srimad Bhagavad- Gita and finding it not fully encompassing, as likewisealso the opinions of his followers, I am beginning this Subodini commentary

on Srimad Bhagavad-Gita.

By reading with intelligence this commentary called Subodini the meaning

of Srimad Bhagavad-Gita will be illuminated and thus should always be

meditated upon by the wise.

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The extremely magnanimous Supreme Lord Krishna, whose feet are always

worshipable by everyone; manifested Himself as the son of Devaki and

Vasudev in this world for the ultimate benefit and welfare of all humanity.

The Supreme Lord Krishna with the light of absolute knowledge and the

torch of esoteric wisdom, rescued Arjuna, whose discrimination beingoverpowered by grief and despondency as a result of harboring false

conceptions, had the incorrect inclination to renounce his own authorised

duty as a ksatriya and accept the unauthorised duties of a brahmana. This

very subject taught by the literary incarnation, lila avatara, Krsna

Dvaipayana Vyasa is revealed in the seven hundred verses of Srimad

Bhagavad-Gita. In these seven hundred verses Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa has

written down all the verses spoken by Lord Krishna in his monumental

historical epic, Mahabharata; and with great attention he has at certain

places put a few of the verses in narrative form to properly introduce the

dialogue of Lord Krishna to Arjuna. Thus this commentary known as

Subodini will now commence.

Thus ends the introduction to the commentary of Srimad Bhagavad-Gita

by Sridhara Swami.

RUDRA

VAISNAVA SAMPRADAYA

Visnu Swami : Founding Acarya

Visnu Swami's authority verified by Vedic scriptures:

In the GARGA SAMHITA it is written:

vamanas ca vidih sesah sanako visnu-vakyatah

dharmartha-hetave caite bhavisyanti dvijah kalau

visnusvami vamnangsa-statha madhvastu brahmanah

ramanujastu sesanga nimbaditya sanakasya ca

ete kalau yuge bhavyah sampradaya-pravartakah

samvatsare vikramasya catvarah ksiti-pavanah

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sampradaya-vihina ye mantraste nisphalah smritah

tasmacca gamanang hyasti sampradaye narairapi

TRANSLATION

Vamana, Brahma, Ananta Sesha and Sanaka Kumara will appear asbrahmanas by the order of Visnu, for the preservation of eternal

righteousness in kali yuga.

Visnu Swami, Madhvacarya, Ramanuja and Nimbaditya will appear

respectively as a portion of Vamana, Brahma, Ananta Sesha and Sanaka

Kumara.

These saviours will be the establishers of the four authorised and

empowered spiritual channels of disciplic succession in the period calculated

from the reign of King Vikrama in 54 B.C. subsequently through the presentera of kali yuga.

These four authorised and empowered spiritual channels of disciplic

succession are to be fully accepted by all beings; as any word, combination

of words or formulation of sounds frequencies, invoked or addressed,

audible or inaudible, secret or revealed, ancient or contemporary, outside

their auspices prove to have absolutely no efficacy.

Garga Samhita, Canto 10, chapter 61, verses 23, 24, 25, 26

sampradaya: authorised and empowered spiritual channel of disciplic

succession

vikramasya: the solar year calculated from 54 B.C., the reign of King

Vikrama and subsequently through the present and onwards into the future.

mantraste: any word, combination of words or formulation of sound

frequencies, audible or inaudible, secret or revealed, ancient or

contemporary used to invoke or address the Supreme Lord.