Friday, May 2, 2008

Some starting thoughts on Gita

Shri-Mad-Bhagwat-Geeta or simply Geeta is one of the most sacred books. It means the "Song of the Lord". There are many Geetas, like Ashtavakra Geeta, Avadhoot Geeta, Raam Geeta etc. but Shri-Mad-Bhagwat-Geeta is more famous among masses. Geeta was narrated by Lord Krishna to his disciple Arjun in the battle field of Kurukshetra.
The question here is that who was there in the battle field to note down what Lord is saying to Arjun. Sanjay was having powers to see the battle field and tell what is going on there to Dhritrashtra, but even then nobody was noting it down, then how The Geeta reached to all of us?
Swami Nithyananda says that a Mantra-Drishta Rishi is one who realizes the deep secrets in deep meditation state. Geeta is a part of Mahabharat, firstly narrated by the great sage Vyasa. Vyasa was a mantra-drishta Rishi. He is also known as Ved Vyasa because he divided Veda into four Vedas for the benefit of people in Kaliyuga.Vyasa Passed on Geeta to his disciple and through "Smriti" we got it.Geeta has 18 chapters and each chapter deals with some topic. In brief, The Geeta has essence of whole Sanatana Dharma Philosophy.
What is Sanatana Dharma? Sanatana means "Eternal" or that which is always there. The term Hindu is never mentioned in any of the holy scriptures, then from where this term "Hindu" came? When Alexander from Masedonia came to attack India in 3rd Century BC, they started calling all people living across river Sindhu as "Sindhu", later when Arabians came to India this word Sindhu got changed into "Hindu". It was not the name given to any religion but to all the people in a particular geographical area acroos river Sindhu.
There are many commentaries avaiable on Geeta by many enlightened souls. As per my limited knowledge, I feel that Commentry by Swamy Gambhirananda is one of the most deep. Also by Swami Akhandananda Sarswati is equally "Goodh" or that which gives great insight on hidden secrtes.Other good commentaries include by Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Prabhupada and by mahatamas of Gaudiya Sampradaya of Udupi and Mathura.
Then there is question that why Geeta came in battle field. The story of Mahabharat says that Arjun got sentimental after seeing his relatives and friends in the battle field and so wanted to escape out. To remove his "Vishaad" or remorse, the Lord gave him the gyan of Geeta. Now question comes that why Arjun got remorse in battle field, why not before? The preparation for battle must be in progress for long time and also this was not first time that Arjun was face to face with his cousins and other relatives. After there 14 years of "VanVaas" or "Forest Stay" they had faced each other when Duryodhana and others had attacked KIng Viraat after getting the clue that Pandavas are hiding in his palace. Then also a fierce battle had happened and Arjun defeated all the Kuravas in that battle, but he did not got this remorse, then why at
Kurkshetra? One reason may be that Lord may have thought to let Arjun reach his maximum limit of "Agyaan" so that in that he should be able to understand the "Geeta" in a better way or another reason may be that perhaps Lord wanted to give this "Gyan" to people and Arjun was just a "Nimitta" or the medium. As Kaliyuga was not far away so Lord would have decided that in this peroid people with their limited intelliegence may not understand Upnishad or Vedas so the essence he told in the form of "Geeta".He says in Geeta that this knowledge has been lost so I am narrating it again. It clearly means that Arjun and Mahabharat were only the "Nimitta" through which Lord send its message.

2 comments:

punda said...

Hi Alok,

Its a wonderful job that you are doing! Most of us, though we say we belong to the Sanatana Dharma, we never would have opened the Geetopanishad at least once! or never have tried once! You have given good introduction! May be in the next post, you can give a summary of each chapter in few words which might entice at least few people to read Gita.

Thanks
punds

trips of alok said...

Hi Punds,
Thanks for kind words. I have plans to discuss each chapter one by one. I hope that this will help all of us to understand the leela of the Lord Supreme.
Thanks,
Alok