Question: We find the following statement in the 2nd paragraph of the purport to verse 18.46 in the Bhagavad-gita As It Is: “Everyone should think that he is engaged in a particular type of occupation by Hrsikesa, the master of the senses. And by the result of the work in which one is engaged, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, should be worshiped.”
My question is pertaining to the grammatical construction of the above two sentences. If we consider 2 independent clauses:
Independent clause 1: Everyone should think that he is engaged in a particular type of occupation by Hrsikesa, the master of the senses.
Independent clause 2: By the result of the work in which one is engaged, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, should be worshiped.
My question is that why are the 2 independent clauses joined together by the coordinating conjunction “and” in such a way that a sentence is beginning with a conjunction – “And”?
Is there any need of a coordinating conjunction in the above example?
Wouldn’t the two independent clauses do good by standing as two independent statements, by not using the conjunction “And”? Is the conjunction “And” used for a specific purpose? Is it used to relate the verb “think” to the 2nd independent clause (Everyone should think that by the result of the work in which one is engaged, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, should be worshiped)
I humbly beg you to dispel my doubts and give me the correct understanding of the statements. Thanking you in anticipation.
Answer by Romapada Swami: Although I am not an Editor, my sense is as follows:
The word “And” is used to connect the two sentences. The weight of the second sentence rest on the first sentence (Everyone should think that he is engaged in a particular type of occupation by Hrsikesa, the master of the senses). So the word “And” helps co-relate the two sentences.
Since I am not an Editor, I forwarded your question to a BBT Editor, who responded as follows.
> My question is that why are the 2 independent clauses joined together by the coordinating conjunction “and” in such a way that a sentence is beginning with a conjunction – “And”?
Beginning a sentence with “and” is perfectly all right in modern English.
> Is there any need of a coordinating conjunction in the above example?
Yes, because the two sentences are logically connected. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Srila Prabhupada originally had this as one sentence —
“Everyone should think that he is engaged in a particular type of occupation by Hrsikesa, the master of the senses, and by the result of the work in which one is engaged, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, should be worshiped.”
——
The first editor probably thought the sentence was too long and broke it up into two. But the logical connection was maintained with the “and.” Unfortunately, we don’t have any original transcript of this chapter, only an edited, retyped manuscript.
