The Bhagavad-Gita

Veeraswamy Krishnaraj

Description

The Upanishads are the cows; Arjuna is the calf; Krishna is the milker; the discriminating man is the drinker; and the ambrosial Gita is the milk.
Gita teaches man the essentials of living in this world and beyond: Your soul is eternal and indestructible; the body beautiful is only a garment; beings and universe arose from an act of sacrifice by God; the burden of samsara (cycle of births and rebirths) can be shed by devotion to God; man by his conduct creates his own dharma and karma, which control the present and the future; plants, animals and men have souls, some sentient and some insentient; our roots are in heaven; doing one's dharma(duty)by itself is yoga; liberation is the only goal of man; there are many ways and means to attain God and nobody is excluded.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Bhagavad-Gita
• Bhagavad Gita
• Renunciation
• Virtue
• Creation
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 24 mai 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781475911817
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Bhagavad-Gita
Translation and Commentary
 
 
 
 
 
Gita For Daily Living
 
 
 
 
 
Veeraswamy Krishnaraj
 
 
Writers Club Press
San Jose New York Lincoln Shanghai
 
 
 
The Bhagavad-Gita Translation and Commentary
All Rights Reserved © 2002 by Veeraswamy Krishnaraj
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.
Writers Club Press an imprint of iUniverse, Inc.
For information address:
iUniverse, Inc.
5220 S. 16th St., Suite 200
Lincoln, NE 68512
www.iuniverse.com
Secular teachings in Bhagavad-Gita encourage you to practice your own faith with enthusiasm.
ISBN: 0-595-22678-7
ISBN 978-1-4759-1181-7 (ebook)
 
 
 
Contents
Preface  
Introduction  
BG Chapter 1  
BG Chapter 2  
BG Chapter 3  
BG Chapter 4  
BG Chapter 5  
BG Chapter 6  
BG Chapter 7  
BG Chapter 8  
BG Chapter 9  
BG Chapter 10  
BG Chapter 11  
BG Chapter 12  
BG Chapter 13  
BG Chapter 14  
BG Chapter 15  
BG Chapter 16  
BG Chapter 17  
BG Chapter 18  
About the Author  
 
 
 
 
Preface 
Dear Readers:
This book is meant for those who do not have the time to study the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavatam, the Great Epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata), and the philosophy of Hinduism. This book includes the English translation of the Bhagavad Gita and the relevant commentary on the verses. The material for the commentary was drawn from many Hindu scriptures, and my personal opinion on an issue is identified as such. If you happen to come across repetition of material in the commentary section, it is meant for the readers who page through the book, but the material is always relevant to the verse. I presented an abundance of material in the book, which will enhance one’s knowledge of Hinduism, its philosophy, psychology, and creation beliefs, and spirituality in his own faith. The reader will read many truths that are common to all religions. I have also detailed some of the changes Hindu religion underwent from its contact with the other faiths. You will also find examples where Hindu religion diverges from your faith—if it is other than Hinduism, and this book will only strengthen but not erode your own belief systems.
Much of the material deals with the relationship of God to man, man to God, man to fellow man, other beings, and the world around and beyond him. The transcendental world is beyond the scope of human intelligence and accessible only to yogis like Krishna, Buddha, Jesus Christ and Ramana Maharishi. It makes a distinction between a scientific mind that depends on intelligence, knowledge, instinct, and reason at a material level and the intuitive-intellectual mind of a transcendental yogi not bound by conventional wisdom. Matter comes between man and God. The mind, because its proximity to Prakrti (matter), has to scale over the hurdles such as avidya and maya (ignorance and illusion), before it can see the light of the Purusa (Spirit).
In the process of translation of the Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit to English, I read many translations mostly by reputable authors, referred to many Sanskrit-English dictionaries and stayed close to the meaning, interpretation, elucidation, and elaboration of the words in the dictionaries.
English is not my mother tongue, and therefore the writing style is a hybrid that shares both Indian and American flavors.
By profession, I am a physician board-certified in pediatrics in the US and was awarded fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians by examination in Canada. Most of my professional life was spent in practice of pediatrics with some teaching in Pediatrics in India and the US.
I received my secondary and high school education in a missionary school in India, where I learnt more about Christianity than about Hindu religion. That probably accounted for my basic character. But the emptiness felt in not knowing my own religion and the desire to fill the void have been the driving force behind this work. My family was not punctilious in the observation of the Hindu rituals and ceremonies and I do not remember my parents ever teaching me my birth religion. The local Brahmins, who used to hold open-air lectures in the temple property and neighborhood schools in my hometown, kindled my interest in Hindu religion during my medical school days. As a Hindu by birth and familiarity but lacking in knowledge and practice, I had some idea of my religion, but the depth was wanting in me. During my professional life, I read several books on Hindu religion and now I devote my free time in the study of Hindu religion in depth. This book is a part of that sustained interest and comes from the heart.
If a book come (sic) from the heart, it will contrive to reach other hearts; all art and authorcraft are of small amount to that. Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Heroworship and the Heroic in History.
Veeraswamy Krishnaraj
Introduction 
BHAGAVAD-GITA
There are many good books on Bhagavad Gita. Where is then a need for another book? First, it fulfills my desire to tell it in my own words. Second, the translation and the commentary section allow me to present the material in my own flavor. Third, I spent time and effort to read, digest and absorb the Hindu sacred texts, did not want them to languish in anonymity and wanted to share their essence and message.
Bhagavad-Gita is part of the Great Epic, Mahabharata. The latter consists of eighteen books and tells the story of a fratricidal war between Pandavas and Kauravas. What is Trojan War to the Greeks in a cultural sense is Mahabharata war to the Hindus.
Vyasa, according to the devout Hindus, wrote Mahabharata in Sanskrit about five thousand years ago. The western scholars place him in the third Century B.C. The epic poem existed before the arrival of Buddha around 600 B.C.: that much is an established fact. It is beyond the scope of this book to present arguments for and against the authenticity of the Mahabharata war. Mahatma Gandhi said, “I do not regard the Mahabharata as a historical work in the accepted sense.” Bhagavad Gita is the revealed wisdom according to the Hindus and comparable to the Bible and the Koran.
Bhagavad Gita is the Song of Lord Krishna, who declared it to Arjuna under battlefield conditions. It is unlikely that Lord Krishna recited all verses on the battlefield; He must have said a few verses and the rest were recited later. While the Lord was the charioteer, Arjuna was the warrior.
It is the essence of the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures. It has the distilled wisdom of the Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion. Dharma has several contextual meanings: duty, right, justice, that which is established, customary observance, morality, virtue, religious merit, good works, and religion.
By way of caution, Lord Krishna warns against Vedic rituals. He says that a Brahmana with Brahma knowledge has no use for the Vedas and the message is that attaining oneness with Brahman is superior to Vedic rites. Lord Krishna was talking to Arjuna at many levels in their relationship: man to man, relative to relative, friend to friend, guru to student, the Sovereign of the universe to the young prince, the Sesin to Sesa (the Lord to the dependent), the Great Soul to the individual soul, and God to man. It was a communication between a charioteer and a warrior prince. The relationship between these two entities in each two-way interaction is explained in an analogy: The chariot is the body of Arjuna; the individual soul is the rider of the chariot and Arjuna’s soul itself; the charioteer is the Lord Himself, the Paramatman or the Great Soul. Now it is evident that the individual soul depends organically on the Great Soul. It was a talk between friends, and Krishna lent his shoulders to Arjuna to lean on when he was despondent. It reveals the intimacy between God and man. The love of Sesin for sesa is compared to that of a cow for the calf. Arjuna had his own personal God for advice and adoration at the most critical moment in his life. The Lord is the charioteer to every soul on its journey to Bliss.
Bhagavad Gita consisting of eighteen chapters explores among other things the Supreme and the Unknowable on the one hand and the phenomenal world on the other hand, and the relationship between the two:
1.Vishnu is the “most Supreme Person.” He is depicted in Bhagavad Gita as Krishna or Narayana.
2.Aksaram and Avyaktam are the Imperishable and the Unmanifest. Aksaram is Vishnu-dependent and is equated with the Absolute Brahman. The Imperishable gives rise to the Unmanifest.
3.The Brahman is Atman or the Great Soul.
4.The Unmanifest Brahman becomes the manifest Isvara, the Master or the Lord of Universe with no dilution of efficacy.
5.Isvara is the immediate cause of the Hiranyagarbha, the Golden Egg or the Embryo of the Universe. When the latter projects into space and time, the universe unfolds (Virât). Isvara, the personal God, is the inner controller of the manifest universe, consisting of the matter, the sentient and the insentient. The universe is now awake, having been exteriorized from the egg and jolted out of its dream sleep.
6.Krishna is an avatâra or incarnation. He descends in a human form for the ascent of man, whenever there is evil in this world. The individual souls (Jivas) are the sparks off the manifest Brahman.
7.The Lord discusses the ways and means of lib