The Bhagavad Gita
(Selections)
The Bhagavad Gita (Selections)
“One whose soul is unmoved by circumstance, who accepts pleasure and pain with equanimity, only he is fit for immortality.”
Meaning;
Bhagavad – “He is called the Lord (Bhagavad) who knows the origin and end, the coming and going of beings, what is wisdom and what is ignorance.” – Vishnu Purana (vi. 5-78).
The word ‘Bhagavad’ means God or The Supreme Lord, Bhagavān in Sanskrit. ‘Gita’ means song. Thus The Bhagavad-Gita means the Song of God or the Sacred Song or Song Celestial. Bhagavad-gita is also known as Gitopanishad.
The Srimad Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna, narrated in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata. Gita was put together by sage Vyāsa who also edited the four Vedas. It has 701 verses in 18 chapters and has the essence of all the Vedas and Upanishads.
The background:
In ancient times there was a king who had two sons, Dhritarāshtra and Pāndu. Dhritarāshtra was born blind; therefore, Pāndu inherited the kingdom. Pāndu had five sons called the Pāndavas and Dhritarāshtra had one hundred sons called the Kauravas. Duryodhana was the eldest of the Kauravas.
After the death of king Pāndu, his eldest son, Yudhisthira, became the lawful King. Duryodhana was very jealous. Duryodhana wanted the entire kingdom for himself. He tried several evil plots to kill the Pāndavas and take away their kingdom. All peace talks by Lord Krishna and others failed, so the big war of Mahābhārata could not be avoided. The entire eighteen chapters of the Gita are the talk between confused Arjuna and his best friend, mentor and cousin, Lord Krishna---on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
Kurukshetra is located north of Delhi, India.
Main theme:
The central teaching of the Gita is the attainment of the eternal freedom. This is achieved by doing one’s prescribed duties of life or the path of devotion or the path of knowledge.
Gita presents three main aspects of the self; the immortality of the self, the need for self-realization and the method of self-realization.
The Analogy:
The world is one huge battlefield. The real Kurukshetra is within us. The battle of the Mahabharata is still raging within. Ignorance is Dhritarashtra; the individual being is Arjuna; the indweller of our heart (self \ spirit) is Lord Krishna, the charioteer; the body is the chariot; the senses are the five horses; mind, egoism, mental impressions, senses, cravings, likes and dislikes, lust, jealousy, greed, pride and hypocrisy are your dire enemies.
The Gita: (selections)
o Sloka 2-17: Know ‘That(self)’ to be imperishable, by which all this is pervaded. None can cause the destruction of ‘That (self)’, the Inexhaustible.
o Sloka 2- 24. This Self cannot be cut, burnt, wetted nor dried up. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, everlasting and immovable.
o Sloka 2-53: When your mind, perplexed by what you have heard, stands steady and firm in the self, then you will attain yoga (realization).
o Sloka 2-55: When a man, satisfied in the self alone by himself, completely casts off all the desires of the mind, then he is said to be one of steady knowledge.
o Sloka 2-71: That man attains peace (realization), who, abandoning all desires, moves about without attachment, without selfishness, without vanity.
o Sloka 3-4: Not by the abstaining from actions does man reach actionlessness, nor by mere renunciation does he attain perfection.
o Sloka 3-17: That man, verily, who rejoices only in the self, who is content in the self alone, - for him there is nothing to do.
o Sloka 3-27: All actions are done in all cases by the energies of Nature only. He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks: “I am the doer”.
o Sloka 3-28: But who he knows the truth, (O mighty armed), about the divisions of energies and (their) functions, is not attached, thinking that the energies act upon the energies.
o Sloka 3-39: (O Arjuna) Wisdom is enveloped by this constant enemy of the wise, in the form of desire, which is unappeasable as fire!
o Sloka 4-18: He who can see inaction in action and action in inaction, he is wise among men; he is a Yogi and performer of all actions.
o Sloka 4-22: Satisfied with what comes to him by chance, rising above the pairs of opposites, free from envy, even minded in success and failure, though acting he is not bound.
o Sloka 5 -8&9: “I do nothing at all”—thus will the knower of Truth think—seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing, Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening and closing the eyes—convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.
o Sloka 5-13: Renouncing all actions by thought, and self-controlled, the embodied one rests happily in the nine gated city , neither at all acting nor causing to act.
o Sloka 5-15: The Lord takes neither the evil nor even the good deed of any; wisdom is enveloped by ignorance; thereby mortals are deluded.
o Sloka 6-2: (O Arjuna), know Yoga to be that which they call renunciation; no one becomes a Yogi who has not renounced thoughts.
o Sloka 6-5: Let a man raise himself by (him) self, let him not lower himself: for he alone is the friend of himself, he alone is the enemy of himself.
o Sloka 6-29: With the mind made steady by Yoga, he sees the Self abiding in all beings and all beings in the Self; he sees the same everywhere.
o Sloka 7-10: Know Me (O Arjuna), as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the intelligence of the intelligent, the bravery of the brave.
o Sloka 10-20: I am the Self, (O Gudakesha), seated in the hearts of all beings: I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings.
o Sloka 12- 13&14 : He who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain, and forgiving, Ever content, steady in meditation, possessed of firm conviction, self-controlled, with mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he, My devotee, is dear to Me.
o Sloka 13-15: Without and within (all) beings, the unmoving and also the moving; because of His subtlety, unknowable; and near and far away is That.
o Sloka 17-16: Serenity of mind, good-heartedness, silence, purity of nature, self-control—this is called mental austerity.
Reference;
1. The Bhagavad Gita – Tr. by Alladi Mahadeva Sastri.
2. Bhagavad Gita by Sri Swami Sivananda.
3. "Bhagavad-gita As It Is" by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
4. The Bhagavad Gita – Tr.by Shri Purohit Swami.
5. The Bhagavad Gita – Tr.by B.Srinivasa Murthy.
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurukshetra_War
7. http://www.ece.lsu.edu/kak/MahabharataII.pdf
8. The Bhagavad-Gita for Children and Beginners – International Gita Society
(www.gita-society.com/ )
“One whose soul is unmoved by circumstance, who accepts pleasure and pain with equanimity, only he is fit for immortality.”
Meaning;
Bhagavad – “He is called the Lord (Bhagavad) who knows the origin and end, the coming and going of beings, what is wisdom and what is ignorance.” – Vishnu Purana (vi. 5-78).
The word ‘Bhagavad’ means God or The Supreme Lord, Bhagavān in Sanskrit. ‘Gita’ means song. Thus The Bhagavad-Gita means the Song of God or the Sacred Song or Song Celestial. Bhagavad-gita is also known as Gitopanishad.
The Srimad Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna, narrated in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata. Gita was put together by sage Vyāsa who also edited the four Vedas. It has 701 verses in 18 chapters and has the essence of all the Vedas and Upanishads.
The background:
In ancient times there was a king who had two sons, Dhritarāshtra and Pāndu. Dhritarāshtra was born blind; therefore, Pāndu inherited the kingdom. Pāndu had five sons called the Pāndavas and Dhritarāshtra had one hundred sons called the Kauravas. Duryodhana was the eldest of the Kauravas.
After the death of king Pāndu, his eldest son, Yudhisthira, became the lawful King. Duryodhana was very jealous. Duryodhana wanted the entire kingdom for himself. He tried several evil plots to kill the Pāndavas and take away their kingdom. All peace talks by Lord Krishna and others failed, so the big war of Mahābhārata could not be avoided. The entire eighteen chapters of the Gita are the talk between confused Arjuna and his best friend, mentor and cousin, Lord Krishna---on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
Kurukshetra is located north of Delhi, India.
Main theme:
The central teaching of the Gita is the attainment of the eternal freedom. This is achieved by doing one’s prescribed duties of life or the path of devotion or the path of knowledge.
Gita presents three main aspects of the self; the immortality of the self, the need for self-realization and the method of self-realization.
The Analogy:
The world is one huge battlefield. The real Kurukshetra is within us. The battle of the Mahabharata is still raging within. Ignorance is Dhritarashtra; the individual being is Arjuna; the indweller of our heart (self \ spirit) is Lord Krishna, the charioteer; the body is the chariot; the senses are the five horses; mind, egoism, mental impressions, senses, cravings, likes and dislikes, lust, jealousy, greed, pride and hypocrisy are your dire enemies.
The Gita: (selections)
o Sloka 2-17: Know ‘That(self)’ to be imperishable, by which all this is pervaded. None can cause the destruction of ‘That (self)’, the Inexhaustible.
o Sloka 2- 24. This Self cannot be cut, burnt, wetted nor dried up. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, everlasting and immovable.
o Sloka 2-53: When your mind, perplexed by what you have heard, stands steady and firm in the self, then you will attain yoga (realization).
o Sloka 2-55: When a man, satisfied in the self alone by himself, completely casts off all the desires of the mind, then he is said to be one of steady knowledge.
o Sloka 2-71: That man attains peace (realization), who, abandoning all desires, moves about without attachment, without selfishness, without vanity.
o Sloka 3-4: Not by the abstaining from actions does man reach actionlessness, nor by mere renunciation does he attain perfection.
o Sloka 3-17: That man, verily, who rejoices only in the self, who is content in the self alone, - for him there is nothing to do.
o Sloka 3-27: All actions are done in all cases by the energies of Nature only. He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks: “I am the doer”.
o Sloka 3-28: But who he knows the truth, (O mighty armed), about the divisions of energies and (their) functions, is not attached, thinking that the energies act upon the energies.
o Sloka 3-39: (O Arjuna) Wisdom is enveloped by this constant enemy of the wise, in the form of desire, which is unappeasable as fire!
o Sloka 4-18: He who can see inaction in action and action in inaction, he is wise among men; he is a Yogi and performer of all actions.
o Sloka 4-22: Satisfied with what comes to him by chance, rising above the pairs of opposites, free from envy, even minded in success and failure, though acting he is not bound.
o Sloka 5 -8&9: “I do nothing at all”—thus will the knower of Truth think—seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing, Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening and closing the eyes—convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.
o Sloka 5-13: Renouncing all actions by thought, and self-controlled, the embodied one rests happily in the nine gated city , neither at all acting nor causing to act.
o Sloka 5-15: The Lord takes neither the evil nor even the good deed of any; wisdom is enveloped by ignorance; thereby mortals are deluded.
o Sloka 6-2: (O Arjuna), know Yoga to be that which they call renunciation; no one becomes a Yogi who has not renounced thoughts.
o Sloka 6-5: Let a man raise himself by (him) self, let him not lower himself: for he alone is the friend of himself, he alone is the enemy of himself.
o Sloka 6-29: With the mind made steady by Yoga, he sees the Self abiding in all beings and all beings in the Self; he sees the same everywhere.
o Sloka 7-10: Know Me (O Arjuna), as the eternal seed of all beings; I am the intelligence of the intelligent, the bravery of the brave.
o Sloka 10-20: I am the Self, (O Gudakesha), seated in the hearts of all beings: I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings.
o Sloka 12- 13&14 : He who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain, and forgiving, Ever content, steady in meditation, possessed of firm conviction, self-controlled, with mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he, My devotee, is dear to Me.
o Sloka 13-15: Without and within (all) beings, the unmoving and also the moving; because of His subtlety, unknowable; and near and far away is That.
o Sloka 17-16: Serenity of mind, good-heartedness, silence, purity of nature, self-control—this is called mental austerity.
Reference;
1. The Bhagavad Gita – Tr. by Alladi Mahadeva Sastri.
2. Bhagavad Gita by Sri Swami Sivananda.
3. "Bhagavad-gita As It Is" by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
4. The Bhagavad Gita – Tr.by Shri Purohit Swami.
5. The Bhagavad Gita – Tr.by B.Srinivasa Murthy.
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurukshetra_War
7. http://www.ece.lsu.edu/kak/MahabharataII.pdf
8. The Bhagavad-Gita for Children and Beginners – International Gita Society
(www.gita-society.com/ )
Sloka 11-55: mat-karma-kån mat-paramo mad-bhaktaù saìga-varjitaù nirvairaù sarva-bhüteñu yaù sa mäm eti päëòava | He who does all actions for Me, who looks upon Me as the Supreme, who is devoted to Me, who is free from attachment, who is without hatred towards any being, he comes to Me. (O Arjuna!) |