Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Bg 8.28

vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva
dāneṣu yat puṇya-phalaṁ pradiṣṭam
atyeti tat sarvam idaṁ viditvā
yogī paraṁ sthānam upaiti cādyam

Word for word: 

vedeṣu — in the study of the Vedas; yajñeṣu — in the performances of yajña, sacrifice; tapaḥsu — in undergoing different types of austerities; ca — also; eva — certainly; dāneṣu — in giving charities; yat — that which; puṇya–phalam — result of pious work; pradiṣṭam — indicated; atyeti — surpasses; tat sarvam — all those; idam — this;viditvā — knowing; yogī — the devotee; param — supreme; sthānam — abode; upaiti — achieves; ca — also;ādyam — original.

Translation: 

A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing sacrifices, undergoing austerities, giving charity or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities. Simply by performing devotional service, he attains all these, and at the end he reaches the supreme eternal abode.

So Sri Krishna is telling over here whatever result one may get from other paths, vedeṣu, by the study of Vedas, yajñeṣu, when one does various yajnas, tapaḥsu, one does austerities, dāneṣu one gives charity.

Generally in the vedic culture Yajna, dana and tapa these three are considered to be primary religions activities and of course study of Vedas are important so we will see in 18th chapter also Sri Krishna talks about Yajna, Danan, Tapa karma pavnani manishinah that Yajna, tapa, dana are such that it can purify even the people who are manishinah who are quite advanced who are pure who can control the mind, Manishinah, Mana + esha, so Yajan, dana, tapa are important but Krishna is saying these are dharmic activities they are not necessarily transcendental, on the path of transcendence also we may do some Yajna we may do some tapa we may give some dana but in the path of transcendence our focus is different our focus is on Krishna our focus is not just on doing our dharmic activities for the sake of gaining Punya. But Sri Krishna is saying that whatever activity you may do…in previous verse Krishna said just be Yoga-Yukta so one may wonder if I am just Yoga-Yukta what about tapa, dana, karma, Krishna is saying no whatever result you may get yat puṇya-phalaṁ pradiṣṭam, all this will give you Punya-phala but Sri Krishna says atyeti tat sarvam, atyeti means more then that, beyond that superseding or surpassing that atyeti tat sarvam, so whatever results one gets by all these things, vedesu yjnesu tapah Jyanesu  one will supersede that surpass that and idaṁ viditvā if Arjuna understand this and practice this yogi and addition what will happen paraṁ sthānam upaiti cādyam, yogi will attain the param sthāna so here Sri Krishna is telling that the focus on transcendence will give us a far greater result than what can be got by doing material Punya, so in this way in this chapter Sri Krishna shifts Arjuna’s focus decisively from acting in the world to acting beyond the world.

Krishna has talked about Sulabha is 8.14 about remembrance of Him but in 9th chapter Sri Krishna will describe this further what is means by which one can get this result paraṁ sthānam and 9th chapter Srila Prabhupada translates as King of Knowledge so there it is clearly talking about Bhakti Yoga. So this 8th chapter concludes with the call to practice Yoga, here yoga doesn’t necessarily means astanga yoga, what it means is focus on the transcendental goal and stay connect with the transcendental goal, so Srila Prabhupada’s purport is beautiful over here, it is progressive purport.

Srila Prabhupada summarizes the vedic process over here he says that how a Brahmachari practices Brahmachari Ashram then a person gradually moved forward and then Prabhupada writes “Study of the Vedas is not meant for the recreation of armchair speculators, but for the formation of character.” So when one studies the Vedas from the master from 5 to 20 years that means in Brahmachari life then the person becomes man of good character and then one comes into Grihasta Ashram and then one retires from Grihasta Ashram and then one moves forward to take Sanyas then Prabhpada says “The beauty of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, is that by one stroke, by engaging in devotional service, one can surpass all the rituals of the different orders of life.” That means essentially what Srila Prabhupada says is that this progressive Yajna, dana, tapa, Karam which is done in the Vedic pious Life for doing Punya the ashram Bramachari, Grihasta, Vanaprasta and Sanyas which are embraced all these are good but they are progressive however if one gets Bhakti it is one step up, one can quickly move forward and in one stroke get the result of devotional service by engaging in supreme result of life, one get love of Krishna one get Param sthānam, so just like when a person gets million dollars then 5 dollars 10 dollars 100 dollars 5000 dollars, all of them are included in it so like that when one gets Param Sthana the love of Krishna then everything else which is there are included in that and then Srila Prabhupada said that one should begin by studying the BG from a devotee so one should learn BG from a devotee and not from a mental speculator this is the sign of faith. Then Prabhupada describes how we should study the BG and love for Krishna eventually emerges and then Prabhupada described this highest stage of life Param sthānam completely in love with Sri Krishna “one falls completely in love with Kṛṣṇa. This highest perceptional stage of life enables the devotee to be transferred to Kṛṣṇa’s abode in the spiritual sky, Goloka Vṛndāvana, where the devotee becomes eternally happy.” That is the ultimate goal.

So in 8th Chapter Sri Krishna tell Arjuna that yes there can be material adjustments and by different kinds of material adjustments one can get different material results and by this onerously one can gradually attain Brahman but just if one is fixed steadily in yoga, one can get the result of Yajna, Dana, Tapa and beyond that one can get the transcendental result also therefore stay fixed in Yoga and how the best Yoga is Bhakti Yoga that is mentioned in 6th chapter that is reiterated in 9th chapter which discuss next.

End of transcription.