SRIMAD BAGAWAT GITA – SLOKA DETAILS

AN ANALYSIS OF SRIMAD BAGAWAT GITA

Srimad Bagawat Gita is a treasure of knowledge imparted by Lord Krishna to his faithful devotee and friend Arjun.  The total number of Slokas in Srimad Bagawat Gita is just 701, yet it is called the essence of all the Vedas in condensed form. 

Lord Krishna did not start the narration of Gita Upadesha in Srimad Bagawat Gita, nor it was ended by Him.  It was started by the King of Hastinapur, Drutharashtr and was ended by Sanjay.  Lord Krishna was the last (5th) speaker, yet He became the most powerful speaker in the total composition.

Lord Krishna did not give any Upadesh in the first chapter.  He starts His upadesh only from the Second Chapter.

Apart from Arjun, it was only Sanjay who could see the Vishwarupa Darshan of Lord Krishna.

As fate could have its own course, even after knowing that Lord Krishna was bent upon making the victory of the war in favor of Pandavas, King Drutharashtr did not care to stop it even at the last moment.  Infact, it was his last opportunity to stop the war, but his heartful of love for his wicked son Duryodan made him stick to the decision to go to the war.

Although Duryodan is wicked, the Lord somehow gave him the mercy to include his words in the first Chapter, may be to show how strong were the Kaurav army was.

The following is the analysis of slokas said by each of speakers in Srimad Bagawat Gita.

Out of the total 701 slokas -

Lord Krishna narrated 574 slokas
Arjun narrated 87 slokas
Sanjay 30 slokas
Drutharashtr 1 slokas
Duryodan 9 slokas

Through the 574 slokas Lord Krishna delivered to the world the Universal Truth and in Kali Yuga this Srimad Bagawat Gita is considered as the Fifth Veda.

HARI OM !!

PREFACE TO SRIMAD BAGAWAT GITA

Srimad Bagawat Gita’s basic origin could be traced to the time when Bishma took the vow that he would not marry, but protect the kingdom of Hastinapur.  Since then, whatever that happened, was paving the way for the eventual Kurukshetra War.. It was just the situations that were unfolding until the final eventuality of the untimely death of king Pandu, and his elder brother, Drutarashtr, blinded with the ignorant love for his son Duryodan, took over the kingdom, as its king.

Even when the kingdom of Indraprasta was given to the Pandavas, Lord Krishna knew that the peace will not be ever lasting.  It was true, and it ended in the invitation to the deceitful dice game planned by Sakuni.  Although Yudishtr knew that there was a ploy with the invitation, as a Kshatriya, he had to accept the invitation.  But what he could have done to prevent the cheating, he could have asked Lord Krishna to go with him while he was playing the game, and that would have stopped Sakuni from playing the tricks.  But he did not even remember to do it.  Even after having lost the game, Yudishtr did not approach Lord Krishna for help, but just accepted the defeat and allowed Draupati to be brought to the palace only to be insulted and disrobed by Dussasan.  After having failed in all her attempts to get a favor from the elders in the palace assembly, she threw up her arms seeking the help of Lord Krishna, and He responded immediately by providing her unending robes, thus protecting her from being humiliated by Dussasan.  Even at that time, Yudishtr or other Pandavas did not remember to seek the help of Lord Krishna. Thus they accepted their banishment.

Lord Krishna knew it very clearly.  Pandavas were strong, good, just and honest, but they lacked the intelligence to tackle the wickedness and the deceit of Sakuni, Duryodan etc.  So any solution for a separate kingdom for the Pandavas would not work.  They would be again defeated in some way or other, and they would be either killed or thrown out into the forest.  Therefore, He decided that the best solution to stop the wickedness of Duryodan and Sakuni was to have them all destroyed permanently.  That it would be the Destined Duty of the Pandavas to do it.  Thus Lord Krishna paved the way in all manner, in shaping the Kurukshetra War.

Lord could have just used His most minimal power to threaten Duryodan and Sakuni when He went there as an ambassador of the Pandavas, seeking just five houses, at least to live.  Or, instead of accepting the invitation of Vidur and staying with him, he could have appeased Duryodan and stayed with him and influenced him to give at least five houses to the Pandavas.  But, He did not want that to happen.  He knew, even if He made Duryodan agree to the request of the Pandavas, it would not last long.  The problems would just go on, until either of the siblings are killed.  So, He decided that the wicked should die to give a permanent solution.  Thus, He had decided what should be the fate of the Kauravas, and it was the Destined Duty of the Pandavas to do it.

Lord Krishna, meticulously planned how the Pandavas should be made stronger.  He knew if ever Yudishtr knew Karan was his elder brother, he would have persuaded the other four Pandavas to accept the peace accord that would be dictated by Duryodan through Karan.  Also, that Karan was stronger than any of the Pandavas, he should not be allowed to destroy the other Pandavas, but just to have the focus on Arjun.  Lord had taken over the charge of protecting Arjun, so nothing could harm him.  Thus, He appointed Kunti Devi to stop Karan and made her seek two important promise that he would not kill any other brothers, other than Arjun and he would not use the target weapon Naagastra more than once on Arjun. 

Lord Krishna, worked so hard to see that the war would take place and the Pandavas would emerge victorious in that.  Apart from the above, He played many tricks on Duryodan and Sakuni, before the war, during the war, and also protecting Bhim from the call of Drutarashtr for a killing embrace.

While the Lord did all these to make the Pandavas victorious, Arjun let Him down, by showing his weakness to fight the war.  The Lord was annoyed that Arjun was letting his Destined Duty to go away from his hands.  It was at this moment, that Lord decided to fulfill His Destined Duty also, providing the “Fifth Veda” called Srimad Bagawat Gita or Gita Upadesh.

Lord Krishna delivered the Gita Upadesh to the whole world.  It is the essence of the Vedas.  In Kali Yuga, when the life span of the people was very less, when the people would live in the world of illusions, they will not have much time to devote to the God.  Hence, He wanted the Vedas to be in a condensed form, which the people could carry with them, could remember all the verses, which the people could teach it to the next generations, which the people refer to when they had any problem throughout their life in any form etc.

Thus the Lord, with all His mercy on the people of the world, gave us the Srimad Bagawat Gita, which so far had been transmitted throughout the generations, which would be passed on, until the end of the Kali Yuga.

HARI OM !!

SRIMAD BAGAWAT GITA - AN INTRO

Srimad Bagawat Gita, although requires no introduction in any manner, it is a privilege to write commentaries on this great composition of Lord Krishna. Many great persons including Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya had written about this great Upadesh of Lord Krishna.  It is really a great mercy of Lord Krishna to allow me, who is no more than any normal person He had created, even to think about writing the commentaries of the Gita Upadesh of Lord Krishna.  I don’t know yet if I am qualified to write commentaries on Srimad Bagawat Gita, I don’t know when will I be able to complete it, I don’t know if my commentaries would be accepted by the other great teachers of Sanatana Dharma, but I only know that the Lord has made one of my Destined Duty to write commentaries on His Gita Upadesh, so He will have mercy to guide me through His knowledge and make me accomplish this great task.

Srimad Bagawat Gita was narrated as Gita Upadesh by Lord, not sitting in the seat of a Guru, giving the Upadesh to his disciples, but in the middle of Kurukshetra, the great battle field the world had not seen till date, in which all the weapons of mass destruction like Bhramaastra, Naagastra etc. were used.

During Dwapara Yuga, Lord Vishnu knew the necessity of condensing all the Vedas into one form, as the next Yuga was Kali Yuga, in which people will not have much time to study all the Vedas. In Kali Yuga the life expectancy itself would be limited and the people would be driven with all sorts of enemity and challenges, so they would have very limited time even for prayers.  Thus it would be necessary, to condense all the Vedas as short as possible, and this, the Lord accepted do it.  Thus it paved the way for all those devotees of Sanatana Dharma, to keep a book of Srimad Bagawat Gita in their office bag, on their office table etc. so while they are in the Maya of the Kali Yuga doing all that is needed by Kali, they could think about the Lord and glance the pages to read the words of the Lord.

Thus, in His Avathar as Sri Krishna in Dwapara Yuga, Lord Vishnu assumed a few Destined Duties for Himself, and one of the Destined Duties the Lord had was to condense all the Vedas into one form called the Srimad Bagawat Gita and give it to the world.

Lord Krishna could have given this Gita Upadesh during any of His time, but He chose to do it at the most appropriate time, when the whole world was watching Arjun, giving a go to what he had in his hand, the victory over the Kauravas.

The Lord had done the Gita Upadesh in just 18 chapters, enlightening us through the use of the different forms of Yogas.

The depth of the Srimad Bagawat Gita, cannot be measured, so its interpretations.  It can be seen from any angle, from the angle of spiritualism, from the angle of business, from the angle of household living, from the angle of anything or any activity in the world.  Each time one reads Srimad Bagawat Gita, new enlightenment or new ideas of interpretations spring up.  Such is the beauty of the words of the Lord, no wonder Srimad Bagawat Gita is called the fifth Veda.

Lord Krishna was the fifth and the last speaker in the whole of Srimad Bagawat Gita.  In Chapter 1, the first verse was opened by Drutarastra, followed by Sanjay, Duryodan and Arjun.  Only after Arjun had expressed his anguish to fight and kill his friends and relatives, who were now his enemies ready to kill him, Lord starts Upadesh of Srimad Bagawat Gita.

The Lord has given the most important message of motivation to do one’s Destined Duty.  Lord was speaking to Arjun to do his duty at that time.  It was not the regular or ordinary duties Arjun had on his hand.  Instead it was his Destined Duty to fight the Kurukshetra War and destroy the Kauravas once and for all. 

Lord does not say regarding all the normal incidental and ancillary works we do in our life.  He says that He leaves it to our intelligence to understand and do it.  He speaks only about the Destined Duty.  When Lord Krishna was referring to the word “duty” to Arjun, He was always mentioning about the Destined Duty, which Arjun had to do and which Arjun was refraining from doing – fighting the Kurukshetra War. 

Lord Krishna had explained in length why we should do our Destined Duty, why no Karma would affect us while we do our Destined Duty, what would happen if we don’t do our Destined Duty etc. 

I humbly pray to Lord Sri Krishna to enlighten me more and more as I take this opportunity to start writing the commentaries about each verse of Srimad Bagawat Gita.

I understand from my Lord, it is my Destined Duty to do so, and hence I start my commentaries on Srimad Bagawat Gita under the title

“ABSOLUTE UNIVERSAL MESSAGE – For Practical Living – Gita Upadesh of Sri Krishna”

HARI OM !!