|
|
|
|
"Gita" redirects here. For other uses, see Gita (disambiguation).
The Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit भगवद्गीता, Bhagavad Gītā, "Song of God") is a Sanskrit text from the chapter Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata epic, comprising 700 verses.[1] Krishna, as the speaker of the Bhagavad Gita, is referred to within as Bhagavan[2] (the divine one). The verses themselves, using the range and style of Sanskrit meter (chhandas) with similes and metaphors, are written in a poetic form that is traditionally chanted; hence the title, which translates to "the Song of the Divine One". The Bhagavad Gita is revered as sacred by Hindu traditions,[3] and especially so by Vaishnavas (followers of Vishnu-Krishna). It is commonly referred to as The Gita. The content of the text is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna taking place on the battlefield of Kurukshetra just prior to the start of the Kurukshetra war. Responding to Arjuna's confusion and moral dilemma, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince and elaborates on different Yogic[4] and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita often being described as a concise guide to Hindu philosophy and also as a practical, self-contained guide to life. Other noted experts have described it as a lighthouse of eternal wisdom that has the ability to inspire any man or woman to supreme accomplishment and enlightenment. [5] During the discourse, Krishna reveals his identity as the Supreme Being Himself (Svayam bhagavan), blessing Arjuna with an awe-inspiring glimpse of His divine universal form. The Bhagavad Gita is also called Gitopanishad as well as Yogopanishad, implying its status as an Upanishad, or a Vedantic scripture.[6] Since the Gita is drawn from the Mahabharata, it is included in Smriti texts. However, being one of Upanishads, it has a status of śruti, or revealed knowledge.[7][8]
Dates
The date of composition of the text of the Bhagavad Gita is not known with certainty, but is widely speculated as around 500 BCE.[9] Scholars give a broad range of possible dates, as in this analysis by Robert Charles Zaehner:
However, it is interesting to note that the entire Mahabharata (of which Bhagavad Gita is a part of), has no references to Buddhism at all. Whereas the Buddhist scripture Niddesa written in 4 B.C. in the Pali Canon clearly refers to the worship of Vasudeva (Krishna) and Baladeva (Balarama). This itself might strongly suggest that the Bhagavad Gita is pre-Buddhistic. In fact, it is more likely that the Buddhists received the concept of Nirvana from earlier Vedic scriptures in Sanskrit.[original research?] Based on claims of arbitrary differences in the poetic styles and supposed external influences such as Patanjali's Yoga Sutra,[citation needed] some scholars have argued that the Bhagavad Gita was added to the Mahabharata at a later date.[11][12] A traditional religious dating for the events of the Mahabharata War according to the chronology established in Gupta times by Aryabhata on grounds of archaeoastronomical calculations places the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavad Gita) in the late 4th millennium BC (3138 BC or 3102 BC[13]). Many religious groups hold this date to be accurate in reference to the Gita.[14] Within the text of the Bhagavad Gita itself Krishna claims that the knowledge of Yoga contained in the Gita was first instructed to mankind at the very beginning of their existence.[15] As Hinduism has historically had an oral tradition of transmitting knowledge from generation to generation for thousands of years, it is not uncommon for religious traditions within Hinduism to believe that the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita are much older than the dates ascribed to it by modern scholars as to when it was inked to paper.[16] Background
The discourse on the Bhagavad Gita begins before the start of the climactic battle at Kurukshetra. It begins with the Pandava prince Arjuna, as he becomes filled with doubt on the battlefield. Realizing that his enemies are his own relatives, beloved friends and revered teachers, he turns to his charioteer and guide, Krishna, for advice. In summary the main philosophical subject matter of the Bhagavad-gita is the explanation of five basic concepts or "truths":[17]
Krishna counsels Arjuna on the greater idea of dharma or universal harmony and duty. He begins with the tenet that the soul is eternal and immortal.[18] Any 'death' on the battlefield would involve only the shedding of the body, but the soul is permanent. Arjuna's hesitation stems from a lack of right understanding of the 'nature of things,' the privileging of the unreal over the real. His fear and reticence become impediments to the proper balancing of the universal dharmic order. Essentially, Arjuna wishes to abandon the battle, to abstain from action; Krishna warns, however, that without action, the cosmos would fall out of order and truth would be obscured. In order to clarify his point, Krishna expounds the various Yoga processes and understanding of the true nature of the universe. Krishna describes the yogic paths of devotional service,[19] action,[20] meditation[21] and knowledge.[22] Fundamentally, the Bhagavad Gita proposes that true enlightenment comes from growing beyond identification with the temporal ego, the 'False Self', the ephemeral world, so that one identifies with the truth of the immortal self, the absolute soul or Atman. Through detachment from the material sense of ego, the Yogi, or follower of a particular path of Yoga, is able to transcend his/her illusory mortality and attachment to the material world and enter the realm of the Supreme.[23] It should be noted, however, that Krishna does not propose that the physical world must be forgotten or neglected. Indeed, it is quite the opposite: one's life on earth must be lived in accordance with greater laws and truths, one must embrace one's temporal duties whilst remaining mindful of a more timeless reality, acting for the sake of action without consideration for the results thereof. Such a life would naturally lead towards stability, happiness and ultimately, enlightenment. To demonstrate his divine nature, Krishna grants Arjuna the boon of cosmic vision (albeit temporary) and allows the prince to see his 'Universal Form' (this occurs in the eleventh chapter).[24] He reveals that he is fundamentally both the ultimate essence of Being in the universe and also its material body, called the Vishvarupa ('Universal Form'). In the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna refers to the war about to take place as 'Dharma Yuddha', meaning a righteous war for the purpose of justice. In Chapter 4, Krishna states that he incarnates in each age (yuga) to establish righteousness in the world.[25] Mahatma Gandhi, throughout his life and his own commentary on the Gita,[26] interpreted the battle as "an allegory in which the battlefield is the soul and Arjuna, man's higher impulses struggling against evil."[27] Overview of chapters
The Gita consists of eighteen chapters in total:
Scripture of Yoga
The Gita addresses the discord between the senses and the intuition of cosmic order. It speaks of the Yoga of equanimity, a detached outlook. The term Yoga covers a wide range of meanings, but in the context of the Bhagavad Gita, describes a unified outlook, serenity of mind, skill in action and the ability to stay attuned to the glory of the Self (Atman) and the Supreme Being (Bhagavan). According to Krishna, the root of all suffering and discord is the agitation of the mind caused by selfish desire. The only way to douse the flame of desire is by simultaneously stilling the mind through self-discipline and engaging oneself in a higher form of activity. However, abstinence from action is regarded as being just as detrimental as extreme indulgence. According to the Bhagavad Gita, the goal of life is to free the mind and intellect from their complexities and to focus them on the glory of the Self by dedicating one's actions to the divine. This goal can be achieved through the Yogas of meditation, action, devotion and knowledge. In the sixth chapter, Krishna describes the best Yogi as one who constantly meditates upon him[28] - which is understood to mean thinking of either Krishna personally, or the supreme Brahman - with different schools of Hindu thought giving varying points of view. Krishna summarizes the Yogas through eighteen chapters. Three yogas in particular have been emphasized by commenters:
While each path differs, their fundamental goal is the same - to realize Brahman (the Divine Essence) as being the ultimate truth upon which our material universe rests, that the body is temporal, and that the Supreme Soul (Paramatman) is infinite. Yoga's aim (moksha) is to escape from the cycle of reincarnation through realization of the ultimate reality. There are three stages to self-realization enunciated from the Bhagavad Gita:
Major themes of yogaThe influential commentator Madhusudana Sarasvati (b. circa 1490) divided the Gita's eighteen chapters into three sections, each of six chapters. According to his method of division the first six chapters deal with Karma Yoga, which is the means to the final goal, and the last six deal with the goal itself, which he says is Knowledge (Jnana). The middle six deal with bhakti.[29] Swami Gambhiranda characterizes Madhusudana Sarasvati's system as a successive approach in which Karma yoga leads to Bhakti yoga, which in turn leads to Jnana yoga.[30] This system has been adopted by later commentators and rejected by others. Karma YogaKarma Yoga is essentially Acting, or doing one's duties in life as per his/her dharma, or duty, without concern of results - a sort of constant sacrifice of action to the Supreme. It is action done without thought of gain. In a more modern interpretation, it can be viewed as duty bound deeds done without letting the nature of the result affecting one's actions. It is said that the results can be of three types - as aimed for, opposite of what is aimed for, or a mixture of these. If one can perform his duties (as prescribed in the Vedas) without anticipation of the result of his actions, he is bound to succeed. It includes, but is not limited to, dedication of one's chosen profession and its perfection to God. It is also visible in community and social service, since they are inherently done without thought of personal gain. Krishna advocates 'Nishkam Karma Yoga' (the Yoga of Selfless Action) as the ideal path to realize the Truth. Allocated work done without expectations, motives, or thinking about its outcomes tends to purify one's mind and gradually makes an individual fit to see the value of reason and the benefits of renouncing the work itself. These concepts are vividly described in the following verses:
In order to achieve true liberation, it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy sense pleasures. The following verses illustrate this:[34]
Bhakti YogaAccording to Catherine Cornille, Associate Professor of Theology at Boston College, "The text [of the Gita] offers a survey of the different possible disciplines for attaining liberation through knowledge (jnana), ritual action (karma) and loving devotion to God (bhakti), focusing on the latter as both the easiest and the highest path to salvation."[35] In the introduction to Chapter Seven of the Gita, bhakti is summed up as a mode of worship which consists of unceasing and loving remembrance of God. As M. R. Sampatkumaran explains in his overview of Ramanuja's commentary on the Gita, "The point is that mere knowledge of the scriptures cannot lead to final release. Devotion, meditation and worship are essential."[36] As Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita:
Jnana YogaJnana Yoga is a process of learning to discriminate between what is real and what is not, what is eternal and what is not. Through a steady advancement in realization of the distinction between Real and the Unreal, the Eternal and the Temporal, one develops into a Jnana Yogi. This is essentially a path of knowledge and discrimination in regards to the difference between the immortal soul (atman) and the body. In the second chapter, Krishna’s counsel begins with a succinct exposition of Jnana Yoga. Krishna argues that there is no reason to lament for those who are about to be killed in battle, because never was there a time when they were not, nor will there be a time when they will cease to be. Krishna explains that the self (atman) of all these warriors is indestructible. Fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it. It is this Self that passes from body to another body like a person taking worn out clothing and putting on new ones. Krishna’s counsel is intended to alleviate the anxiety that Arjuna feels seeing a battle between two great armies about to commence. However, Arjuna is not an intellectual. He is a warrior, a man of action, for whom the path of action, Karma Yoga, is more appropriate.
Eighteen YogasIn Sanskrit editions of the Gita, the Sanskrit text includes a traditional chapter title naming each chapter as a particular form of yoga. These chapter titles do not appear in the Sanskrit text of the Mahabharata.[45] Since there are eighteen chapters, there are therefore eighteen yogas mentioned, as explained in this quotation from Swami Chidbhavananda:
In Sanskrit editions, these eighteen chapter titles all use the word yoga, but in English translations the word yoga may not appear. For example, the Sanskrit title of Chapter 1 as given in Swami Sivananda's bilingual edition is arjunaviṣādayogaḥ which he translates as "The Yoga of the Despondency of Arjuna".[47] Swami Tapasyananda's bilingual edition gives the same Sanskrit title, but translates it as "Arjuna's Spiritual Conversion Through Sorrow".[48] The English-only translation by Radhakrishnan gives no Sanskrit, but the chapter title is translated as "The Hesitation and Despondency of Arjuna".[49] Other English translations, such as that by Zaehner, omit these chapter titles entirely.[50] Swami Sivananda's commentary says that the eighteen chapters have a progressive order to their teachings, by which Krishna "pushed Arjuna up the ladder of Yoga from one rung to another."[51] As Winthrop Sargeant explains,
Dhyana YogaDhyana Yoga is the stilling of the mind and body through meditating techniques, geared at realizing one's true nature. A very similar (if not identical) practice was later described by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras.
Note: Alternative versions of the above verse state that the top of the nose (between the eyebrows) should be meditated upon, rather than the tip.[54] InfluenceIn a heterogeneous text, the Gita reconciles facets and schools of Hindu philosophy, including those of Brahmanical (orthodox Vedic) origin and the parallel ascetic and Yogic traditions. It comprises Upanishadic, Sankhya and Yogic philosophies. It had always been a creative text for Hindu priests and Yogis. Although it is not strictly part of the 'canon' of Vedic writings, almost all Hindu traditions draw upon the Gita as authoritative. For the Vedantic schools of Hindu philosophy, it belongs to one of the three foundational texts Prasthana Trayi (lit. "three points of departure"), the other two being the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras. "[T]he authority and influence of the Bhagavad Gita is such that...It has been called "India's favourite Bible", and with its emphasis on selfless service it was a prime source of inspiration for Mahatma Gandhi."[55] Among the great sages and philosophers who have drawn inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who initiated the public singing of the "Hare Krishna" mantra. J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original, citing it later as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. Upon witnessing the world's first nuclear test in 1945, he quoted "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" based on verse 32 from Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita.[56][57] A 2006 report suggests that the Gita is replacing the influence of the "The Art of War" (ascendant in the 1980s and '90s) in the Western business community.[58] The Bhagavad Gita has frequently been cited as part of the complex web of mythic and literary influences on Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian. In his introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of The Bhagavad Gita, Simon Brodbeck writes that the novel "has resonances with the The Bhagavad Gita on many levels. It is set in a time of violence, uncertainty and rapid change, against which is expounded a philosophy of detachment in action."[citation needed] CommentariesTraditionally the commentators belong to spiritual traditions or schools (sampradaya) and Guru lineages (parampara), which claim to preserve teaching stemming either directly from Krishna himself or from other sources, each claiming to be faithful to the original message. In the words of Hiriyanna, "[The Gita] is one of the hardest books to interpret, which accounts for the numerous commentaries on it - each differing from the rest in an essential point or the other."[59] Different translators and commentators have widely differing views on what multi-layered Sanskrit words and passages signify, and their presentation in English depending on the sampradaya they are affiliated to. Especially in Western philology, interpretations of particular passages often do not agree with traditional views. The oldest and most influential medieval commentary was that of the founder of the Vedanta school[60] of extreme 'non-dualism", Shankara (788-820 A. D.),[61] also known as Shankaracharya (Sanskrit: Śaṅkarācārya).[62] Shankara's commentary was based on a recension of the Gita containing 700 verses, and that recension has been widely adopted by others.[63] There is not universal agreement that he was the actual author of the commentary on the Bhagavad Gita that is attributed to him.[64] A key commentary for the "modified non-dualist" school of Vedanta[65] was written by Ramanujacharya (Sanskrit: Rāmānujacharya), who lived in the eleventh century A.D.[66][67] Ramanujacharya's commentary chiefly seeks to show that the discipline of devotion to God (Bhakti yoga) is the way of salvation.[68] The commentary by Madhva, whose dates are given either as (b. 1199 - d. 1276)[69] or as (b. 1238 - d. 1317),[70] also known as Madhvacharya (Sanskrit: Madhvācārya), exemplifies thinking of the "dualist" school.[71] Madhva's school of dualism asserts that there is, in a quotation provided by Winthrop Sargeant, "an eternal and complete distinction between the Supreme, the many souls, and matter and its divisions."[72] Madhva is also considered to be one of the great commentators reflecting the viewpoint of the Vedanta school.[73] In the Shaiva tradition,[74] the renowned philosopher Abhinavagupta (10-11th century CE) has written a commentary on a slightly variant recension called Gitartha-Samgraha. Other classical commentators include Nimbarka (1162 AD), Vallabha(1479 AD).,[75] while Dnyaneshwar (1275-1296 AD) translated and commented on the Gita in Marathi, in his book Dnyaneshwari. In modern times notable commentaries were written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi, who used the text to help inspire the Indian independence movement.[76][77] Tilak wrote his commentary while in jail during the period 1910-1911, while he was serving a six-year sentence imposed by the British colonial government in India for sedition.[78] While noting that the Gita teaches possible paths to liberation, his commentary places most emphasis on Karma yoga.[79] No book was more central to Gandhi's life and thought than the Bhagavadgita, which he referred to as his "spiritual dictionary".[80] During his stay in Yeravda jail in 1929,[81] Gandhi wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita in Gujarati. The Gujarati manuscript was translated into English by Mahadev Desai, who provided an additional introduction and commentary. It was published with a Foreword by Gandhi in 1946.[82][83] Mahatma Gandhi expressed his love for the Gita in these words:
Other notable modern commentators include Sri Aurobindo, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and Swami Vivekananda, who took a syncretistic approach to the text.[85][86] Swami Vivekananda, the follower of Sri Ramakrishna, was known for his commentaries on the four Yogas - Bhakti, Jnana, Karma and Raja Yoga. He drew from his knowledge of the Gita to expound on these Yogas. Swami Sivananda advises the aspiring Yogi to read verses from the Bhagavad Gita every day. Paramahamsa Yogananda, writer of the famous Autobiography of a Yogi, viewed the Bhagavad Gita as one of the world's most divine scriptures. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, wrote a commentary on the Gita from the perspective of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In 1965 the modern sage Maharishi Mahesh Yogi published his own commentary of the Gita and proclaimed his technique of Transcendental Meditation to be the practical procedure for experiencing the field of absolute Being described by Lord Krishna.[87] TranslationsNumerous readings and adaptations of the Bhagavad Gita have been published in many languages. In 1785 Charles Wilkins published an English translation of the Bhagavad Gita, which was the first time a Sanskrit book had been translated directly into a European language.[88] In 1808 passages from the Gita were part of the first direct translation of Sanskrit into German, appearing in a book through which Friedrich Schlegel became known as the founder of Indian philology in Germany.[89] The Gita has been translated into many other languages. Gita Press, of Gorakhpur, India, publishes the Gita in English and many Indian languages.[90] The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes the Gita in more than 54 languages.[91] See also Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Notes
References
External links Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Bhagavad Gita at the Open Directory Project Translations
Entire work
Selections
Commentaries
Audio
| ||||||||||||||
