The Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit: भागवद् गीता - Bhāgavad Gītā) is revered as a sacred text of Hindu philosophy. The name 'Bhagavad Gita', when translated into English, literally means 'Song of God'. Its written format is that of a poem which is 700 verses long, originating from the famous puranic epic Mahabharata (Bhishma Parva chapters 23 – 40).

Commonly referred to as The Gita, it is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna which takes place on a battlefield, just prior to the start of a climactic war. During the conversation, Krishna proclaims that he is God Himself (Bhagavan), and at the request of Arjuna, displays his divine form, which is described as timeless, that leaves the latter awestruck. The conversation summarizes a number of different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, explaining the meaning and purpose of life and existence. The Bhagavad Gita refers to itself as an 'Upanishad', and is sometimes called Gītopanişad.

It is not exactly clear when the Bhagavad Gita was written. Astronomical cited in the Mahabharata place the incidents upon which the Gita is based in the year 3137 BCE, while the Puranas suggest a date of c. 1924 BCE. Scholars place the actual writing of the Gita in the latter half of the 1st millennium BC (roughly 4th century BC), making it a contemporary of the older Upanishads.

Background

The discourse on the Bhagavad Gita begins before the start of the climactic battle at Kurukshetra. It begins with the kshatriya prince Arjuna, as he becomes filled with doubt on the battlefield. Realising that his enemies are his own relatives, beloved friends, and revered teachers, he turns to his charioteer and guide, Sri Krishna (an avatar of Sri Vishnu), for advice.

Krishna counsels Arjuna, beginning with the tenet that the human Soul is immortal, and human death on the battlefield is just the shedding of the body, but the soul is permanant. Krishna goes on to expound on the yogic paths of devotion, action, meditation and knowledge. Fundamentally, the Bhagavad Gita proposes that true enlightenment comes from growing beyond identification with the Ego, the little Self, and that one must identify with the Truth of the immortal Self, (the soul or Atman), the ultimate Divine Consciousness. Through detachment from the personal Ego, the Yogi, or follower of a particular path of Yoga, is able to transcend his mortality and attachment from the material world, and see the Infinite (the Brahman).

To demonstrate the infinity of the unknowable Brahman, Krishna grants Arjuna the boon of cosmic vision (albeit temporary), and allows the prince to see Him in all his Divine Glory. He reveals that He is fundamentally both the ultimate essence of Being in the universe, and also its material body. This is called the Vishvarupa/Viratrupa.

The Scripture of Yoga

The Gita addresses the discord between the senses and the intuition of cosmic unity. It speaks of the Yoga of equanimity, a detached outlook. The term Yoga covers a wide range of meanings, but in the context of the Bhagavad Gita, describes a unified outlook, serenity of mind, skill in action, and the ability to stay attuned to the glory of the Self (Atman), which is of the same essence as the basis of Being (Brahman). According to Krishna, the root of all suffering and discord is the agitation of the mind caused by desire. The only way to douse the flame of desire is by stilling the mind through discipline of the senses and the intellect.

However, abstinence from action is regarded as being just as detrimental as extreme indulgence. According to the Bhagavad Gita, the goal of life is to free the mind and intellect from their complexities, and to focus them on the glory of the Self, by dedicating one's actions to the divine. This goal can be achieved through the Yogas of meditation, action, devotion and knowledge.The Gita describes the

Krishna summarizes the Yogas through eighteen chapters. There are four kinds of Yoga - Raja Yoga or Psycho-Physical Meditation, Bhakti Yoga or Devotion, Karma Yoga or Selfless Action, and Jnana (pronounced gyaan) Yoga or Self Transcending Knowledge.

While each path differs, their fundamental goal is the same - to realize Brahman (the Divine Essence ) as being the only truth, that the body is temporal, and that the Supreme Soul (Paramatman) is infinite. Yoga's aim (nirvana or moksha) is to escape from the cycle of reincarnation through realization of oneness with the ultimate reality. There are three stages to self-realisation enunciated from the Bhagavad Gita:

1. Brahman - The impersonal universal energy

2. Paramatma - The Supreme Soul sitting in the heart of every living entity.

3. Bhagavan - God as a personality, with a transcendental form.

Here are some quotations from Krishna that make up history's first real yoga text and give comprehensive definitions of the four principle yogas:

On The Goal Of Yoga

"When the mind comes to rest, restrained by the practice of Yoga, and when beholding the Self, by the Self, he is content in the Self." " He who finds his happiness within, his delight within, and his light within, this yogi attains the bliss of Brahman, becoming Brahman."

On Bhakti Yoga

Put simply, Bhakti Yoga is Service in Love and Devotion to God (Krishna in the context of the Bhagavad Gita).

"I consider the Yogi-devotee - who lovingly contemplates on Me with supreme faith, and whose mind is ever absorbed in Me - to be the best of all the Yogis". "After attaining Me, the great souls do not incur rebirth in this miserable transitory world, because they have attained the highest perfection." ".. those who, renouncing all actions in Me, and regarding Me as the Supreme, worship Me.. For those whose thoughts have entered into Me, I am soon the deliverer from the ocean of death and transmigration, Arjuna. Keep your mind on Me alone, your intellect on Me. Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter." "And he who serves Me with the yoga of unswerving devotion, transcending these qualities is ready for liberation in Brahman." "Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, offer service to Me, bow down to Me, and you shall certainly reach Me. I promise you because you are My very dear friend." "Setting aside all meritorious deeds (Dharma), just surrender completely to My will (with firm faith and loving contemplation). I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not fear."

On Karma Yoga

Karma Yoga is essentially Acting, or doing one's duties in life as per his/her dharma, or duty, without concern of results - a sort of constant sacrifice of action to the Supreme. It is action done without thought of gain. In a more modern interpretation, it can be viewed as duty bound deeds done without letting the nature of the result affecting ones actions. It is said that the results can be of 3 types - as aimed for, opposite of what is aimed for, or a mixture of these. If one can perform his duties (as prescribed in the Vedas) without any anticipation of the result of his actions, he is bound to succeed. It includes, but is not limited to, dedication of one's chosen profession and its perfection to God. It is also visible in community and social service, since they are inherently done without thought of personal gain.

Example: If one is playing tennis on the tennis court, his duty is to play as well as he can. If he is a Karma Yogi, the loss of a few points will not hamper his enthusiasm and energy for the rest of the game, but if he is not, then he will start getting tense, nervous, self-conscious, etc. and is then bound to make mistakes and lose anyway. This is a simple example of Karma Yoga for a layman.

Krishna advocates Nishkam Karma Yoga (the Yoga of Selfless Action) as the ideal path to realize the Truth. Allocated work done without expectations, motives, or thinking about its outcomes tends to purify one's mind and gradually makes an individual fit to see the value of reason and the benefits of renouncing the work itself. These concepts are vividly described in the following verses:

"To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits;let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction" -- verse 47, Chapter 2-Samkhya theory and Yoga practise

"Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of wealth(Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness of mind



is called yoga" -- verse 48, Chapter 2-Samkhya theory and Yoga practise

"With the body, with the mind, with the intellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis perform action toward self-purification, having abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains steady peace.."

In order to achieve true liberation, it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy and sense pleasures. The following verses illustrate this:

Verses 62,63, chapter 2- Samkhya theory and Yoga practise

"When a man dwells in his mind on the object of sense, attachment to them is produced. From attachment springs desire and from desire comes anger."

"From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of memory, the destruction of intelligence and from the destruction of intelligence he perishes"

On Jnana Yoga

Jnana Yoga is a process of learning to discriminate between what is real and what is not, what is eternal and what is not. Through a steady advancement in realization of the distinction between Real and the Unreal, the Eternal and the Temporal, one develops into a Jnana Yogi. This is essentially a path to God through knowledge and discrimination, and has been described as being the "shortest, and steepest" path to God - the most difficult one.

"When he perceives the various states of being as resting in the One, and from That alone spreading out, then he attains Brahman. / They who know, through the eye of knowledge, the distinction between the field and the knower of the field, as well as the liberation of beings from material nature, go to the Supreme." .

On Raja Yoga

Raja Yoga is the stilling of the mind and body through meditating techniques, geared at realizing one's true nature. This practice was later described by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras.

" Establishing a firm seat for himself in a clean place.. having directed his mind to a single object, with his thought and the activity of the senses controlled, he should practice yoga for the purpose of self-realization. Holding the body, head and neck erect, motionless and steady, gazing at the tip of his own nose and not looking in any direction, with quieted mind, banishing fear, established in the brahmacharin vow of celibacy, controlling the mind, with thoughts fixed on Me, he should sit, concentrated, devoted to Me. Thus, continually disciplining himself, the yogin whose mind is subdued goes to nirvana, to supreme peace, to union with Me."

Influence of Bhagavad Gita

In many ways seemingly a heterogeneous text, the Gita is a reconciliation of many facets and schools of Hindu philosophy of both Brahmanical (i.e., orthodox Vedic) origin, and the parallel ascetic and Yogic traditions. It comprises primarily Vedic (as in the four Vedas, as opposed to the Upanishads/Vedanta), Upanishadic, Sankhya and Yogic philosophies. It has stood the test of time, bringing together all four thought systems by taking their largely cohesive, common ideologies and backgrounds into the powerful Sanskrit verse of one text.

It had always been a creative text for Hindu priests and Yogis. Although not strictly part of the 'canon' of Vedic writings, almost all Hindu sects draw upon the Gita as authoritative. Some claim that it may have been inserted into the Mahabharata at a later date, but this is only natural as it sounds more like an Upanishad (which are commentaries that followed the Vedas) in thought than a Purana (histories), of which tradition the Mahabharata is a part.

For its religious depth, quintessential Upanishadic and Yogic philosophy and beauty of verse, the Bhagavad Gita is one of the most compelling and important texts of the Hindu tradition. It is one of the world's greatest religious and spiritual scriptures.

For the Vedantic schools of Hindu philosophy , it is one of the three foundation texts (Sanskrit: Prasthana Trayi, literally three points of departure)( the other two being the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras). Every such school is required to have a commentary on the three. The oldest available commentary is from Adi Shankara but he mentions older commentators. He is followed by classical commentators like Anandagiri, Shridhara Swami, Madhusudana Saraswati, Ramanuja, Madhavacharya, Nimbarka, Vallabha and Dnyaneshwar. While the traditional text commented upon by many scholars including Adi Shankara and Ramanuja, consists of 700 verses, there exists a recension of the text from Kashmir with additional 15 verses. The renowned philosopher Abhinavagupta(10-11th century CE) has written a commentary on this recension called Gitartha-Samgraha. Other ancient and medieval scholars (like Vedanta Desika in the Tatparya-Chandrika) seem to be aware of such additional verses but prefer to comment on the popular 700 verses.

Among the great sages and philosophers who have drawn inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who initiated public singing of the "Hare Krishna" mantra.

American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer, upon witnessing the world's first atomic blast in 1945, is reported to have misquoted "I have become Death, the shatterer of worlds," .

The dynamic Swami Vivekananda, the follower of Sri Ramakrishna was known for his seminal commentaries on the four Yogas - Bhakti, Jnana, Karma and Raja Yoga. He drew from his knowledge of the Gita to expound on these Yogas. Swami Sivananda advises the aspiring Yogi to read verses from the Bhagavad Gita every day. Paramahamsa Yogananda, writer of the famous "Autobiography of a Yogi", viewed the Bhagavad Gita as one of the world's most divine scriptures, along with the Four Gospels of Jesus.

Mahatma Gandhi derived great moral strength from Bhagavad gita, which is evident in his words:

"The Geeta is the universal mother. I find a solace in the Bhagavadgeeta that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there , and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies - and my life has been full of external tragedies - and if they have left no visible or indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bhagavad geeta."

See also

• Bhagavad Gita As It Is
• Mahabharata

References

• (Wikisource)
• (Wikisource)
• (Wikisource)

External links: the text and translations

The Bhagavad Gita is quickly becoming one of the most popular religious texts in translation, with numerous readings and adaptations of its 700 verses being published in many languages, especially with its exposure to the world outside India.

Traditionally the commentators belong to spiritual traditions or schools (sampradaya) and Guru lineages (parampara), which preserve the teaching in pure form. Thus traditions stemming from Krishna himself are considered the most faithful to the original message.

It should be kept in mind that different translators and commentators have widely differing views on what multi-layered Sanskrit words and passages truly signify, and their best possible presentation in English depending on the sampradaya they are affiliated to. Especially in modern times in the West, different authors have come up with a wealth of diverse interpretations that often do not agree with the traditional views, the reason being the background and intrinsic values of the interpreters and commentators, which may still be well rooted in Western culture.

Though overall the Gita features Sanskrit that is fairly easily comprehensible, translations of the original Sanskrit text may at times be inaccurate on account of the lack of appropriate corresponding terminology.

English translations and commentaries

• in MP3 spoken in 15 languages and sung in Sanskrit, plus introductions of the Bhagavad-Gita from the four authorised samparadayas.
• Multilingual Bhagavadgita with translations, classical and contemporary commentaries and much more.
• by A.C._Bhaktivedanta_Swami_Prabhupada
• by Srila Prabhupada

Commentaries

• (Roman transliteration of Sanskrit)
• by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

Audio

Selections

• Verses from the Bhagavad Gita arranged by Ramana Maharshi to give its essential meaning.
• a sequence of 12 lectures, by profvk

Eknath Easwaran's poetic translation

Miscellaneous

Gujarati

Μπαγκαβάτ Γκίτα Bhagavad-gita Bhagavadgitao باگاوادگیتا Bhagavad-Gîtâ भगवद्गीता Bhagawad Gita Bhagavad Gita בהגאוואד גיטה Bhagavad-Gíta Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad Gita バガヴァッド・ギーター Bhagawad Gita Bhagavad Gitasa:भगवद्गीता Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad-Gitata:பகவத் கீதைte:భగవద్గీత Бгагавад-Гіта 薄伽梵歌