atha shrimad bhagwad gita
TRANSCRIPT
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Atha Shrimad Bhagwad Gita
Every time Gita is dissussed it is usually belived that it is anHistorical
account of ancient India. I strongly belive otherwise. The entire
Mahabharat
and Ramayan is full of some unbeliveable stories and one has to
understand
them in some different persepctive rather than the usual one. I wanted
to
share my thoughts about Gita that make it to be non-historical. It is
may
humble and sincere effort towards that and hope that you will give a
thought
to it as well.
In Mahabharat and as well in Ramayan there are instances about Buddha
Bhikkus and Buddha Shramanas. That clearly shows that there must be
such
Bhikkus or Shramanas present that time when these two epics werewritten.
This also means that Bhuddha philosophy and traditions there to must be
present for some ample peroid before the creations of Ramayan and
Mahabharat.Actually it can be said that mental rejection of Arjun in the
middle of the battle field skillfully depicted by Ved Vyas to show the
genaral way of thinking prevailing at that time.Dejection and sarrow are
key concepts in Buddha philosophy. Initial mental frame of Arjun is
clear
indication of the Buddha thought.So Gita basically starts with the
strong
influenced of the thinking of the Buddha.Keeping this historical
account of
the social status of the time when Gita was written we may require to go
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through Gita again with different angle.
Atha Shrimad Bhagwad Gita(First Canto)
Before starting to understand the purport of the first stanza of Gita we
have first to understand the meaning of the initial heading, "Atha
Shrimad
Bhagwad Gita". The very first 'Atha' word suggest that there must be
some
such philosophical approch to the problem Gita has tried to expalin and
tackle. Ved Vyas starts with the word 'Atha' because he kept the
philosophy
of life in a different way than the previous ones(Budhha). The word
'Atha'
points to some other school of philosophy which was that of Upnishadasand
hence at the end of every canto of the Gita the word 'Upnishadsu' has
been
written. Gita is also an Upanishad. Upnishadas were written to explain
the
difficult knowledge of the Vedas written in short aphorisms of the
original
divinity. Time passed and the knowledge written in the Upnishads also
became
difficult for the common man to understand. It is through that
Badarayana
wrote his 'Vedantra Sutra' or 'Brahma Sutra' which tried to reconcile
the
philosophical thoughts written in many Upnishads. The Upnishads are
mostly
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of renunciation thoughts to make them more wordly and practical Ramayan
and
Mahabharat epics were written. These two epics because of their
fictional
type of description, became very popular. Again we belive that Ramayan
and
Mahabharat are historical events where as if analysed properly turns
out to
be classical poetical work of Maharishi Valmiki and Ved Vyas. This whole
social and spiritual picture was clear to Ved Vyas and hence he writes
'Atha' in very begining of the Gita.
Then comes the word 'Shrimat'. 'Shri' means opulant and 'Mat' means
opinion
or intelligence which is needed in practical philosophy. The word
'Bhagwat'
comes next. 'Bhag' means Wel-being and 'Vat' means the state
accordingly.
Hence Bhagwat means a state of complete well-being. The last word is
'Gita'verbally meaning a poem that is to be sung. There is an alphabet
'Ga'
in Gita. 'Ga' means speed and 'Git' means momentum towards the desired
end.
Such speed towards the desired end is called 'Gita'.
Thus 'Shrimat Bhagwat Gita' means opulant intelligence speeding towards
the
desired end of wel-being. The process of 'Git' is two fold. The person
can
individually go towards the effect of the song he sings and secondly he
can
take with him the persons emmotionally towards the same desired end ofthe
song who hear him.This is the meaning of 'Git' and such an advancing
stage
towards welfare is termed as 'Gita' by Ved Vyas. Hence Gita is a social
science of behaviour leading towards the desired end of wel-being.
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It is belived that metre of Gita is 'Anustubha' which is even today is
greatly lulling,melodious,gracious and profound. A person who hears the
'Anustubha Chhand' loses himself in a deep profound ecstacy though he
may be
of any school of melody. And that may be the inner urge of Ved Vyas.
Anustubha is coined through two subwords one 'Anu' and second 'Stubha'.
'Anu' means to follow and 'Stubha' means that desired stage of pursuit.
Every canto of Gita begins with Atha and ends with 'Om tat sat eti'
meaning
that is true in this way only. The begining is made through Atha and end
with Eti meaning in this way or like this. By 'Eti' Ved Vyas wants to
suggerst that it is the only way of salvation and wel-being if one goes
by
that way. Gita is no historical account or individual chivalry.Every
canto
begins with 'Atha' and ends with 'Eti', 'Atha' means the teachings of
previous thinkers and 'Eti' means his own opinion. And whatever has been
said in the canto is totally surrendered to the Brahma and hence the
end is
glorified with the words 'Om tat sat eti'.
Hence we may say that Gita is a practical philosophy of life that
requries a
soar of tendencies as displayed by Ved Vyas through Mahabharat. With
this
context only we may require to re-examine some cantos of Gita.