The Spirit Of Spirituality: The Bhagwad Gita

Saturday, July 31, 2010

The Bhagwad Gita

This is one of the articles in a book I have written on spirituality. The book is available on Amazon.com.

The Spirit Of Spirituality

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Om Sahana Vavathu, Sahanau bhunakthu

Sahaveeryam Karavava Hai, Tejasvinava Dheeetamasthu

Mavid Visaav Haiheee

Om shanti shanti shantihi...

I am sure almost every house has a copy of the Gita. The pious amongst us see it

as God and worship it and the so called atheists amongst us mock it as a

superstitious book. Almost no one with the exception of the supremely endowed

Jnanis, has made an effort to understand this wonderful scripture.

The Bhagwad Gita.as the name suggests is the Song of the Lord. It is an integral

part of the Mahabharatha which was written by the Sage Ved Vyasa. Whereas the

Mahabharatha has about 100,000 verses, the Gita constitutes a small portion of

the Mahabhartha and has about 700 verses.

The Bhagwad Gita was told at the beginning of the great war between the

righteous Pandavas and the wicked Kauravas right on the battlefield between the 2

warring armies by the Blessed Lord Shri Krisha to Arjuna, the Pandava warrior.

The Bhagwad Gita told between 2 armies symbolically tells of the constant battle

between the good tendencies and the evil tendencies in each of us and shows a

practical way to get over this duality. It gives a clear picture of what true

happiness is and how to attain that true happiness.

The first word of the Gita is Dharma and the last word is Mama. Mama in Sanskrit

means Mine and Dharma refers to "essential nature". So the Gita elucidates very

clearly what my essential nature is and how to realize it.

The Gita has 18 chapters which can broadly be divided into 3 groups of 6

chapters each. The way Shri Vyasa has organized these chapters map into the Maha

Vakya, Tat Tvam Asi. Each of the Vedas has great statements and some of these

statements are called Mahavakyas or supreme statements because in 3 words these

sentences explain the essential nature of the relationship of the individual

soul and the Divine.

The first 6 chapters of the Gita cover the essential practices that a sadhak has

to undertake so as to prepare for the divine journey. This covers practices like

Karma Yoga which talks of selfless service without any expectation of fruits,

Bhakti Yoga which promotes an attitude of gratitude and Sankhya Yoga which helps

individuals discern what is Real from the Unreal. So this set of 6 chapters

essentially covers "Tvam" which is effectively You and Me.

The next 6 chapters cover the nature of the Supreme. Here the Gita talks of the

presence of the supreme consciousness in everything in this universe and beyond. The Blessed Lord in

this set of 6 chapters dramatically shows Arjuna his cosmic form and Arjuna is

dazed beyond words. Hence this set of 6 chapters covers the Tat or That.

The final 6 chapters establishes the connection between the individual and the

Supreme and hence is refered to as the Asi or Art.

Hence in these 18 chapters, Vyasa Muni brings out the full meaning of Tat Tvam

Asi or That Thou Art.

Interestingly the 18 has other connotations. In the Mahabharatha war the

Kauravas or the un-righteous army had 11 divisions and the Pandavas representing

the righteous army had 7, adding up to 18. This symbolizes that in each of us,

the evil tendencies are more than the good tendencies. There are 18 maha

puranas. Finally if we look at the structure of the individual and God, we as

individuals are made up of 5 sheaths(anna, vayu, mano, jnana, ananda), there are

5 basic elements in all of us(space, air, fire, water and earth), there are 5

senses which make up 15 elements. In addition to these 15, we have the mind,

intellect and the ego, all put together 18 elements. The Gita succeeds in

making a true reader aware of the impermanence of each of these 18 elements by

themselves and as a group, but at the same time gives a practical method to

leverage these elements to attain supreme bliss.

With this, I conclude my brief introduction to the Bhagwad Gita.

Om Poornamadah Pooranamidam Poornath Poornam Udachyathe

Poornasya Poornam Adaya Poornamevava Vasishyathe

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.

1. My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality