Bhagavad Gita Bhavarth (English) – The song of the Blue Wizard

You can learn and understand Bhagavad Gita by reading the Bhavarth version of the Holy Book. The Bhagavad Gita Bhavarth by Lord Jagannath Charitable Trust  has compiled the summary of the Holy Book in Hindi for better understanding of Bhagavad Gita in a simple manner, for the masses.

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Glimpses of the Book:

1.28-30 O Krishna! at the sight of these kinsmen thus arrayed here, eager to wage war, my limbs fail me, my mouth is   parched, my body shivers and my hairs stand on end. The bow Gandiva slips from my hand, my skin burns all over. My mind is reeling as it were, and I am not able even to stand.

 

Here Arjun has addressed Krishna as “Krishna”. While he has addressed Krishna by many other names i.e. Keshav, Madhusudan, and others, “Krishna” was his most loving form of address for the Lord. He has addressed Him by this name on nine occasions in Gita. In the whole of Gita, he has put forth questions to Krishna 17 times.

2.31 And considering that your moral duty as a kshatriya is to engage valiantly in battle, you must not allow yourself to be shaken or deviated from your prescribed duty in life. Because for a kshatriya there could be no noble action more beneficial than to fight the battle of righteousness.

No path could be more blessed for you than that of the true and righteous battle. Though knowledge is the purest means towards union with Krishna, even knowledge becomes insignificant without the willing and eager performance of one's own duty.

2.39 0 son of Pritha! This inward composure and dignity were earlier discussed in Sankhyayoga (analytical study of body and soul) for your enlightenment. And now hear me speak of it in the context of Karmayoga. By cultivating within yourself this cool, calm and clear vision, you can liberate yourself from the shackles of birth, death and rebirth consequent upon your actions.

 

What is meant by bondage arising out of Karma?

1) We receive the fruits of our actions in the form of favourable or adverse circumstances. If our actions are good, we shall be rewarded for them; if our actions are evil, we shall be punished accordingly. If our present life span is insufficient for the reward or punishment earned by our actions, we will have to fall into other lives to fulfil the reactions of our karma. By implication it also means that the favourable or adverse circumstances that we experience in this life need not necessarily be the result of actions performed in this life but may be the overflow of results of actions from some previous birth/births.

As long as we perform actions, we keep earning the good or bad fruits of those actions and remain caught in a seemingly endless cycle of birth and death.

2) If evil acts are iron chains, good acts are chains of gold but are, nevertheless, chains which bind us inextricably to earthly life. As long as we are in chains, fear and worry would be our inseparable companions. Then what is the way out? If our actions are neither good or bad then the fruits of those actions would also be non-existent. But how do we perform such actions?

3) Good actions are those which we perform as our prescribed duty but with the implied desire for reward or credit. For example, acts of charity are expected to earn reciprocal charity or some other reward sometime in the future. Evil acts are those which fall outside the boundaries of our prescribed duty and are performed with the desire to harm others and, subsequently, ourselves. Now if we do our duty but do not expect any reward; do good actions only because to do so is our duty, then those actions would be termed as non-actions (akarma). When actions are performed without any desire for reward, or if all good actions are consecrated to Krishna, there will be no consequences/fruits of such actions. The bondage of Karma will be broken by Akarma (Non-action).

3.8 Perform your duties, prescribed in authorized scriptures because doing so is better than doing nothing. Furthermore if you abandon work totally you would not be able even to sustain your life.”

1) To achieve self-realization or the kingdom of God, strivers usually engage in spiritual practice, but at the same time retain their desire for favourable circumstances, worldly pleasures etc which are prohibited for the strivers. As a result they fail in their goal of self-realization. Consequently they are unable to achieve their life-objectives.
2) The striver who is looking for an easy and fast track towards Krishna and wants to attain Him in a hurry, is actually a devotee of pleasure, not of a lover of that discipline which can lead him to union with Krishna. He who desires the easy way has to necessarily bear pain and he who wants to attain Him speedily has to endure delays. Because such a desire causes impatience in the striver’s practice. He whose determination to achieve Krishna is firm does not set his heart on convenience or speed. He doesn't care for the obstacles in his path just as a businessman, despite perspiration and hunger, as long as his goods are selling well bears these discomforts willingly.
3) What is the practice involved in Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga?
The pursuit of Karmayoga involves working for the welfare of all living creatures without desiring any specific results from your actions for yourself; and the pursuit of Bhaktiyoga involves activities like chanting Krishna's holy name, worshipping Him, listening to His transcendental pastimes as well as the attitude of loving every living creature as a divine fragment of Krishna.
A Karmayogi working without desiring any results/fruits of his actions is not only superior to one desiring to get some results but is greater even than a Gyan Yogi. Hence, Krishna lays special emphasis on Karmayoga.

 

3.20 Great personalities like King Janaka achieved self-realization through Karmayoga. Further, to set a high ideal for the common people, the person engaged in Karmayoga is capable of performing righteous deeds without any selfish desire or attachment; in other words, he must do so.

Man thinks that, like material objects, Krishna could also be attained through his efforts/actions. They speculate that when it requires so much effort even to set up a meeting with a commissioner in this world, it should certainly require stupendous efforts to meet the proprietor of all the universes. This is the strivers' greatest folly of all. By planning, scheming and making the requisite efforts, only the destructible things of this world can be attained; Krishna is to be attained by detachment from the material world.

3.30 With sound intelligence, surrender all your works unto me and, growing free from desires, attachment and from the fever and fret of this world, engage in the battle which is your prescribed duty.

Krishna now explains the best way to work -
1) Krishna has asked Arjuna to surrender all his actions to Him (Krishna) because man has wrongfully claimed proprietorship over the instruments of work (body, mind, senses and intellect) as well as over the money /materials needed for working and over the activities which have been performed. In truth they neither belong to him nor are they meant to serve his selfish interests. They were never his, are not his and never would be his. Instruments, ingredients and activities have a life span whereas the person (soul) is eternal and hence the two can never be possibly related. Thus, it is best to surrender all of them to Krishna. Krishna alone is the master of the entire universe. To surrender is to leave all attachment and claim of ownership or doership.
2) The seeker is usually able to recognize the material ingredients needed for action as belonging to Krishna; however, he fails to realize that even the instruments and he himself also belong to Krishna. Hence, the surrender is always incomplete. It is indeed divine to surrender totally to Krishna.

You can also get the gist of Bhagavad Gita through these two ways:

1. Through our Facebook page. We daily share paragraphs and shlokas from Bhagavad Gita on our Facebook page. You can follow us on our facebook page and learn through videos.
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