Bhagavad Gita for students - How is it all started?

 

This is the 2^nd post on the subject. Bhagavat Gita 2

Copyright©2020 P K Raghavan

How is it all started?

All of us know who is Lord Krishna, Isn’t it? 

For reading convenience, we call him Krisha, keeping all respect in our mind. 

When did he live? We can only go by the information passed on to us by the scholars and researchers of Puranas. Let us understand that our Krishna lived among human beings 3500 years ago. Let us call that as Mahabharatha period. 

 

During the Mahabaratha period – that is about 3,500 years ago, there existed mighty kingdoms in our country. Our country was much larger than what we know today. It was called Bharatam. It was also called Hindustan. It is the Indo-Gangetic plain of Bharatam we are now talking about. It is where the river Ganga flows. You know River Ganga is not an ordinary river. It is the mother goddess for us. Those days people lived only on the banks of the rivers. You know that water is essential for life and agriculture. The river is home to fish, crocodiles, and many such living beings. So human beings worshiped rivers and their goddesses like Ganga Mata, and there are many stories on that. We will see that later. 

 

Have you heard about countries like Magada, Panchala, Kuru, or Chedi in your social studies? No problem if you do not know. They were some of the kingdoms that existed in the Indo-Gangetic plain during the Mahabaratha period. You are interested to know how did the holy Gita or Gitopadesam poem we got. Isn’t it? 

 

It is all in the book Mahabharatam, a sacred scripture for us. Bhagavad Gita is the most revered portion of the book Mahabharatam. Why is it sacred? That is what we are going to see in the next part of the post.

 

Have you seen a printed Gita book?

Do you know this holy book is used by the courts in our country to make witnesses, tell the truth?

(To be continued...in next post)

BHAGAVAD-GITA - For Students - INTRODUCTION

 

BHAGAVAD-GITA 

(For Students)

Copyright©2020 P K Raghavan

INTRODUCTION

 

The BHAGAVAD-GITA is also known as the Song Celestial.

 It is common to all human beings in the world.

Sri Krishna, the God incarnate gave out the Gita to Arjuna on the battle field. The war was the result of ADHARMA (un-righteousness = അധർമ്മം)

DHARMA (Righteousness) had to fight Adharma to establish itself.

Whatever is stated in the GITA is very important. God, in the form of Krishna, gives us an idea of the spiritual and physical aspects of the human body. It prescribes the duty of everyone. It talks about nature. It narrated about the right action to follow at the right moment besides about control of the mind. It spoke about the results of meditation. It explains why one must cultivate good character. It details about knowing one's defects before finding fault with others, about developing Bhakti, about the value of utter surrender to God dedicating all one's actions to HIM, and about acquiring the wisdom that NOT EVEN AN ATOM WOULD MOVE WITHOUT HIS WILL. Thus, one would find that this scripture contains the different duties of an individual from his birth to death and that one has to do his duty dedicating his actions to the Supreme Being. At the same time, he should never think of the results. 

From the Gita one comes to know that desire, greed, ego, pride - if these are overcome, one will have perfect peace of mind. What would be the result? The result one would develop is equanimity of mind and treat the opposites alike. For example joy and sorrow, prosperity and adversity, poverty and affluence, etc.

So the Gita is one of the most authoritative sources of HINDUISM. This truth is known to all sects of the Hindu Religion. This great scripture had studied by people belonging to all religions as it contains eternal truths common to all religions. No wonder GITA is translated into almost all the languages of the world.

Everyone will come across excellent advice in this scripture. Some young students may find certain statements in the text incompatible with their age and mental attainment. It may make them scoff at such things. But my earnest request is that the young student should not stop reading the book simply because things are not either interesting or understandable at the first reading itself. I would stress that our students and youths read and re-read the matter. Then they will be able to discern the essence of the teachings. To give an example, if a 25-year-old young man should read the sentence "Get rid of desire-cultivate renunciation" he is likely to laugh within himself. That should not make him stop reading the matter. Once again, over and over again he should read the matter.

When the same young man enters his fortieth year and reads the same passage he will realize the meaning in a better way, the same when read in his fiftieth or sixtieth year would certainly make him comprehend its implications in the best manner. Why? You may ask. Only a man of wisdom can interpret and understand the contents of the GITA in the proper manner. Again you must know who is a wise man or a man of wisdom. Anyone can become a man of knowledge, and knowledge is different from wisdom. Knowledge can be gained by vast erudition, hearing, undergoing disciplined scholastic life, and also exposure to discourses, men, and matter. By this alone one cannot be called a wise man. As one advances in age, he is bound to undergo trials and difficulties in life, like sorrow, adversity, enmity, jealousy, bereavements, and so on. These are experiences in life. Such experiences are bound to have a tremendous influence on the man's mental disposition. The knowledge he has already gained blended with such practical experiences makes him wise. Then he can be called a man of wisdom. Such men can interpret and understand Gita in a better way.

"Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; 

Wisdom is humble that it knows no more."

Also, there may be some ideas that would be attractive to young minds at the outset.

Therefore, the reader is requested to begin studying this sacred scripture, Gita, with a spirit of respect, reverence, devotion, and above all, good FAITH. By doing so, he will certainly enjoy the real effects of the study of this invaluable teaching.

(To be continued...in next post)