Gita Home

Preface

Hari Om fellow devotees,

Om Shri Ganeshaya namaha
Om Shri Saraswatyai namaha
Om Shri Gurupyonnamaha

My salutations to Lord Ganesha, Goddess Saraswathi and all my Gurus.

First of all, I would like to thank the Board of Directors of HSBV for giving me this opportunity to spread the word of the Hindu Scriptures. I am planning my articles to be direct with the scriptural messages and injunctions. I also have to make it meaningful and interesting for the readers by citing recent events when appropriate.

My understanding of the Scriptures comes mainly from attending numerous pravachans and jnana yagnas by Pujya Guru Swami Chinmayanandaji and Swami Tejomayanandaji and reading their books on various Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.

By the Grace of Lord Sri Krishna and Lord Shiva, I was able to meet and learn from these gurus.

 I have also read books and excerpts by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, Sri Eknath Easwaran and Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to mention a few.

I owe everything to my gurus. All the glory goes to them.

I plan to write on the essence of each of the 18 chapters of the Lord’s song, the Bhagavad Gita, rather than discuss each verse.

The Bhagavad-Gita is a very practical discourse of advice, given by Lord Sri Krishna in the battlefield to Arjuna, as to the decisions he needs to make and why. What he told Arjuna, still applies to all of us on a daily basis. With all the choices we are faced with in this world, decision making becomes confusing at times. In my humble opinion, following Sri Krishna’s advice even a little bit at a time will help us to live a more peaceful, happier life.

Now, let us discuss something broader.

When a Hindu boy or girl is asked “what is the name of your holy book?” He or she should be able to answer correctly.

 There are three books which constitute the final authority on all Hindu scriptural matters. They are:

1) the Upanishads,
2) the Brahma Sutras and
3) and the Bhagavad Gita.

 They are called the Scriptural Trinity (Prasthaanatrayam).

One may wonder about the Vedas. Unfortunately, several portions of the Vedas have become extinct or mutilated over a period of time. The knowledge portion (Jnana kanda) of the Vedas are the Upanishads, and they have been guarded against extinction and mutilation.

The Upanishads are called forest books since they were revealed to the Rishis (sages) in forests. The Brahma Sutras are a synopsis of the Upanishads but they are somewhat difficult to follow. The Bhagavad Gita is also the essence of the Upanishads, but in the Gita, the Vedanta philosophy is explained easier for everyone to understand.

As the Dhyana Shloka of Bhagavad Gita says:

 “Sarvo-panishado gavo dogdha Gopala nandanaha

  partho vatsah sudhirbhokthaa dugdham gitamrutam mahatu“.

 Meaning “All the Upanishads are the cows, the son of the cowherd ( Lord Sri Krishna ) is the milkman, Partha (Arjuna) is the calf, people of purified intellect are the enjoyers and the supreme nectar of Gita is the milk.”

 Dear friends, it is much easier to drink the milk ( the supreme nectar of the Bhagavad Gita) directly given to us by Lord Sri Krishna rather than raise the cows, feed and nurture them, protect them from predators and then milk them . I am sure you will all agree.

We need to inquire why Lord Krishna chose Arjuna to be the fit student (Adhikaari) to teach the message of the Gita.

Why not Bhima? why not Yudhishthira?

After all, Bhima was thirsting for war. But Bhima ate too much, he was boastful of his strength and had not graduated from animal instincts. He would not have understood the yoga nor would he be able to translate it into action. On the other hand, Yudhisthira was well established in yoga and it would have been superfluous for him to be taught the message of the Gita. Arjuna was in between, and he represented the normal man. We are all Arjunas and are the fit students for Gita and to put it into practice.

Arjuna had a problem. He had to decide whether he should fight against and potentially kill his guru Dronacharya (who taught him archery) and his uncle Bheeshma (who raised him). And he suddenly became aware of it in the battlefield, when he saw them on the other side. Compared to him, the decisions we have to make in daily life, we will all agree, are a little easier. But we all do face in life, on a daily basis, decision making of some magnitude.  

Arjuna was fortunate to have Lord Krishna with him to logically guide him. The good news for us is that we can call the Lord anytime and he will come to our rescue. It is called prayer. We all have heard the saying “prayers go up and Blessings come down”. We should live life with the conviction that the Lord (The Atman) is always with us. By living daily life in a prayerful manner, the Jivatman (individual) can be united with the Paramatman (Lord), which should be the goal of our human birth (as per Lord Sri Krishna).

The first chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita is called Arjuna vishada Yoga (the yoga of Arjuna”s grief).

We will start Chapter one of the Lord’s Song, Shreemad Bhagavad Gita , in my next article.

Hari Om!
Dr. Shanmugam