Bhagavad Gita for the Lay Reader (An Old and Rare Book: Only 1 Quantity Available)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The Bhagavad Gita as is well known forms part of the great Indian epic, 'Mahabharata', and contains the teachings of Shri Krishna imparted to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The dialogue between Arjuna and his charioteer as well as friend, philosopher and guide Shri Krishna is being adored in India throughout the ages as the celestial song (Gita).

A few words in explanation would perhaps be in order regarding the genesis of this booklet vis-à-vis the availability of a large number of authentic commentaries, essays and books on the Gita. One morning, of November 15, 1982 to be exact, Colonel Iyer that is how Lt. Col. R. I. Easwaran (Retd.) is generally address-ed by us telephoned to say that he has a "message" to be conveyed to me. The "message" consisted of a few short titles along with relevant references to the verses and chapters from the Gita; for example, "Why this special instruction? Chap. XVIII, 68-70", "Warning in XVIII, 67", "How action starts explained in XVIII, 18", "Control by Nature, XVIII, 40 & 59", and so on. The details are elaborated in the text. (Incidentally, Col. Iyer often quotes from memory verses or aphorisms with their numbers not only from the Gita, but also from Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Brahma Sutras and so on.)

It struck me instantly that here was a pithy exposition of the teachings of the whole Gita summarised in only a few verses, arranged in a logical though unconventional manner, and this manner of exposition might serve as an extremely helpful introduction to the Gita for lay but interested readers. In any case, to the best of our knowledge, there are not many published essays on the Gita so brief, at the same time lucid and cogent. We, therefore, were prompted to start working on the present write-up.

The introduction is written for English-educated Indian readers, having bias towards rationality. Without in any way undermining the value of rationality, its limitations, however, need be always borne in mind. For example, a merely rational approach can hardly bring out the subtlety and beauty of spiritual values on which Indian civilization stands. Such an approach has nonetheless the merit of being complementary to other ap-proaches, such as those of refined emotion and sagacious intuition. Being thus complementary, rationality may help strengthen faith, at least faith of those who would care for it. Let us remember that it is faith which can infuse energy and grit for any activity, spiritual and secular.

Appendix 1, which copies a letter dated April 4, 1983 from Col. Iyer to Shri S. K. Ganguly of Jabalpur, may be of interest to readers as it contains some rare examples of supra-rational and supra-mental experiences.

Every man, without exception and irrespective of his status, education and ambition, seeks fulfilment. But most of us confuse fulfilment with pleasure, profit, privilege and the like. Fulfilment is total satisfaction, and is of lasting value, while pleasure etc. are not only fleeting but also have their concomitant opposites, namely, pain and so on. You cannot have, for example, pleasure without pain; nor can you have any right and privilege without the corresponding duty and obligation. They go together just as do light and shadow. Thus it is obvious that only an integral experience transcending such concomitant opposites such as pleasure pain, excitement relaxation, rights obligations, light shade can lead an individual towards satisfaction.

The quest for fulfilment appears superficially to be individualistic in scope. Nonetheless, as said before, this quest is invariably common to all. Whether we are aware of it or not, each one of us has a craving in the innermost core of the heart to move away from the actual mental state of turbulence and discontentment to that of fulfilment, and all of us are, in fact without exception, moving according to this urge, consciously or unconsciously. Thus on this platform stand all individuals naturally linked together as members of one human family.

This inner psychological movement towards ultimate fulfilment channelised in a scientific way (i.c. with the full knowledge of the laws governing this type of movement) is known as Dharma, which it may be noted, forms the very basis of our traditional Indian culture and civilisation. There is a common misconception that Dharma means ritualistic religion and nothing else. The word Dharma actually means laws, both natural and moral, that ensure right living. For example, one says, "It is the Dharma of fire to burn", "The king's Dharma is to look after the subjects", and so on. Religion and Dharma, though related, are not identical.

In Dharma, Nature and Her laws (of physics, bio-logy, psychology etc.) figure as the central guiding light. The pursuit of an egoistic life of ignorance ready to violate the natural and moral laws for the sake of greed and other narrow selfish ends is Adharma. The distinction between a legitimate requirement or a natural need like hunger and an abnormal desire for acquiring wealth, name and fame becomes very crucial for righteous conduct. Mark the word 'abnormal' normal desire is not Adharma.