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Introduction
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BHAGVAD-GITA
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Bhagavadgita is one of the most important scriptures of the mankind. It
occupies a unique place among the followers of Hinduism. |
Ved Vyas is also given the honour of being the compiler of the Mahabharata.
The Geeta occurs in the Bhishmaparva of the Mahabharata from twenty-third to
fortieth chapter. The Geeta begins with the description of both the opposing
armies in the war of Kurukshetra with the description of their main heroes.
Sanjaya narrates the happenning at the battlefied to the blind king Dhritarashtra,
when he is asked to do so. A great hero and the greatest warrior of the Pandava
side Arjuna sees members of his family, relatives, and teachers in the
battlefield eager to fight from both the warring sides. This causes immense
sadness to Arjuna. Overwhelmed by the grief he leaves aside his bow and arrows.
The desire for battle dies in his heart and he sits down in the chariot in the
state of despondency. Then his charioteer, Lord Krishna preaches him, which is
the subject matter of the Geeta. |
The Gita is mainly a religious treatise. Though it contains ancient Indian
Philosophy, policy and the code of worldly conduct, yet it is essentially a
guide to the Hindu way of life. For centuries millions of Hindus have found
peace and tranquility in their lives by following the path shown by the Gita.
It sets a religious experience of the ultimate reality. The all sects and the
followers of all the traditions/doctrines among the Hindus accept the Gita. The
Gita can be verily said to be the foundation of not only of the Hindusim, but
of the root of the religion itself. |
The union (yoga) of the self (atma) with the ultimate reality (paramatma)
is the final goal of the followers of the Gita. It brings about a
reconciliation among the apparently conflicting doctrines of the way of
knowledge (Gyan-Yoga) of action (Karma-Yoga) and of devotion
(bhakti-yoga). All these paths lead towards one goal only. The term
yoga (means to unite, to yoke), is used in Gita, in the sense of union of the
self with the supreme being it is not used in the sense as given in the
yoga-sutra of Pantanjali. |
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| DATE
AND TEXT OF BHAGAVADGITA
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According to the Hindu traditions and beliefs, the gita is an eternal scripture.
It has always been available to the human being, as a divine gift, for their
redemption. But the modern scholars and researchers, both oriental as well as
western, have done a great deal of work to ascertain the date of its
compilation and its original text. They have taken help from the internal
references available in the literature of that era. Also with the help of
linguistics, they have studied the language used, grammatical constructions,
and word configurations to ascertain its date. All these evidently point
towards the antiquity of the Gita. Genarality of scholars accept that it could
have been composed and complied sometime around fifth century B.C. though its
text might have undergone many additions and alterations subsequently. Also it
does not seem plausible that seven hundred verses contained in the Gita could
have been preached by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the battlefield. Possibly, a
few verses might have been said which were amplified and elaborated into a
large treatise by the narrators over a period of time. Moreover the historicity
of Lord Krishna and his pupil, Arjuna is also not beyond doubt. The Vedic age
and the post-vedic age had extended over a period of many centuries. During
this period, compilation of the vedas and the upnishads, had taken place. Certain
upnishads were compiled as late as the fourth century A.D. |
Lord Krishna is mentioned as Devaki-putra (Son of Devika) in the
upnishads and the references of Radha, Devaki and Vasudeva also occur and the beginning
of the christian era, the cult of Lord Krishna and vasudeva was well
established. Ancient Buddhist texts also mention about krishna
occasionally. These facts may be taken as evidence about the historicity of
Lord Krishna. Vishnu has been depicted as a god in the Vedic hymns. In the
Puranic texts, Vishnu is also mentioned as Narayana. Lord Krishna is identified
with Vishnu or Narayana. Modern Indian and western scholars have done a
tremendous amount of labour to get the answers to these puzzles. But there are
differences of opinion among the scholars regarding the date of Gita and about
its original text. The age of the compilation of the Gita may be taken to be of
between fifth and the second century B.C. |
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The Gita is regarded as a Upnishad's "bhagavadgitastu" The Gita
presents synthesis of all the elements and beliefs of the Hinduism, be they
major or minor, gross or subtle. The Gita refines and reconciles the conflicts
inherent in the various thoughts the vedic sacrifices, Puranic theism,
transcendental or immortal nature of the brahman in the upnishads, dualism and
non-dualism of the philosophical schools and yoga meditation etc. The Gita
provides a solution for these conflicting ideas which is acceptable to all the
adherants of the Hinduism.
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The Gita blends into an organic unity, all the elements of orthodox Hinduism,
Indian Philosophy and Puranic theism. This makes it difficult to assign
the Gita to any specific age, place or tradition. From the very ancient time
commentaries have been written on the Gita by various teachers and seers. The
commentary of Shankaracharya (A.D.788-320) is the most ancient among those,
which are available to us. The text given in this work is generally
followed and taken as the authoritative. |
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| WHAT
IS THERE IN THE EARTH YOGA-SHASTRA
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The Gita teaches the practical way to realise the supreme ideal. It does not
give only a purely metaphysical world of thought to the seeker of the truth, it
takes him to the real world of experience. The supreme bliss can only
be experienced, it cannot be reached by idle speculation of wits and mental
gymnastics. The Gita gives us a metaphysics (brahma-vidya) as well as a
practical discipline (yoga shastra) . By emptying our minds of impure
thoughts, desires and wants, by putting our entire energy in the single minded
contemplation of the nature of the ultimate reality, by constant efforts
(abhyas) and being in a state - where the self (atma) becomes one with the
supreme being (paramatma). This is called "Yoga" (coming from the root "yuj-it
means yoking of or comes into union with the God (parameshwar). After
one attains this state ignorance (Agyana) illusion (avidya) and
egoistic state of mind (ahankara) can no longer exist. The self
experiences the pure truth, pure mind and pure bliss (sat, chit, anand). The
Gita Guide us to this yoga and bhaktiyoga. This is the essence of the Gita.
Gyanyoga is the way of knowledge, Karmayoga of right efforts, of total devotion
and surrender to the will of God. Thus the Gita shows the way of salvation to
all without any distinction or reservation. It is for the entire
humanity. Distinctions place, caste creed or sect do not come in its way. The
Gita like the mother ganga is for the benefit of all. The misconception among a
few that the Gita is meant for the saints and the hermits is without any basis.
The Student (brahmachari), the house-holder the recluse all have equal claim to
its nectar. It's a panacea to the mankind. |
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| THE
CONTECT OF THE GIFT
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The hundred sons of Dhritarastra and the five sons of Pandu, fought a
fatricidal war in the battlefied of Kurukshetra.This is the main theme
of the mahabharata. The sons of the blind king Dhritarastra of the Kauravas
bore great animosity to the Pandavas, the sons of Pandu. Kauravas were ruling
the kingdom of Hastinapura and the Pandavas were the rulers of Indraprastha.
The eldest among the Kauravas, Duryodhana, was very jealous of the splendour of
their cousins, pandavas. He, with the help of his uncle Shakuni, won the
kingdom of the Pandavas, decided that the pandavas shall spend twelve years in
the forest and then one year in disguise. If they were not discovered during
this period, they would get back their kingdom. But when the pandavas returned
after thirteen years, their term of exile, Duryodhana refused to return their
kingdom. All efforts to persuade him failed. Finally, Lord Krishna went to him
as the emissary of the Pandavas. Even his efforts could not succeed. Then the
war became inevitable. |
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In the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Kauravas fought under the leadership of
Duryodhana and the Pandavas side was led by the the eldest among the Pandavas,
Yudhisthir. While the army of Lord Krishna's army fought on the side of the
Kauravas he himself was on the side of the Pandavas. He was charioteer of
Arjuna as he had promised that he would not weild any weapon in the war.When
all the preparations of the war were nearing completion, sage vedvyas went to
the blind king and offered him the boon of divine vision, so that he could
watch the war. But Dhritarastra declined the offer saying that he did not want
to see the destruction of his sons with his own eyes. However, he was eager to
know the going on the battlefield. Then vyas granted the boon of divine vision
to Sanjaya, the king of Charioteer. This enabled Sanjaya to see the war from
any where. Sanjaya sitting near, Dhritarastra told him about the war affairs.
In the meantime the war had commenced. On the twentieth day of the war, the
great warrior Bhishma was felled from his chariot by Arjuna and had been lying
on a bed of arrows. Dhristarastra became vey sad on hearing this news and asked
Sanjaya to narrate the events of the war from the beginning i.e. from the time
when his sons and Pandavas had gathered in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The
Gita starts with the question of the blind king. |
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Next
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Introduction
Chapter-1 |
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4
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10
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