Two texts that are considered essential reading for a serious student of yoga are the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali. You can read a basic introduction to the yoga sutras on my blog here. In the present article, I’ll be presenting the essential message of the Bhagavad Gita.
Bhagavad Gita is a part of a large epic text called the Mahābhārata. Mahābhārata and Ramāyaṇa are two of the very significant epic texts in India. Most of the current social fabric of modern India is largely weaved around the message conveyed through the pages of these two texts. Even though a precise date as to when the Mahābhārata was written is not available, most historians tend to put the date around 3000 BCE. The text was written by Veda Vyasa and the scribe for the text is believed to be Lord Gaṇesha. It is known to be the longest epic poem written comprising of 100,000 verses.
The Mahābhārata war was fought between two cousin families – the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas. There were five Pāṇḍavas – Yudhishthira, Arjun, Bhima, Nakula and Sahdeva. Kauravas, led by Duryodhana, were one hundred in number. The Kauravas also had one sister. The war is also known as the Kurukshetra war as Kurukshetra is the place where the war was fought.
Background information
To understand the context of the Gita, we need to go back to the Vedas which are known to be the oldest volume of knowledge and wisdom. The four vedas are: Rik, Yajur, Sama, Atharva. The last part of the Vedas that contains the essential philosophy (also called Vedanta) are known as Upanishads. The Gita is known to contain the quintessential essence of the philosophy of the Upanishads and, of course, much more. Now, the Gita is a revered scripture in its own right.
The Gita has 18 chapters and a total of 700 verses. The essential content of the Gita is the teaching imparted by Lord Krishna to the warrior prince, Arjuna. It is in the form of a dialog between Krishna and Arjuna. Krishna, a king himself, and a friend and cousin of Arjuna, is the supreme manifestation of universal consciousness (Lord Vishnu) in human form. Bhagavad Gita is considered to be a lighthouse of eternal wisdom. Teachings of the Gita transcend time and space. They are as significant today as when they were written. They contain practical, self-contained, guide to day-to-day life.
The Gita is written in a poetic form and is usually chanted in a musical note. Most of the verses in the Gita are written in the meter known as the Anushtup Chhanda (4 quarters, 8 syllables each). There are a few in another meter called the Trishtup Chhanda (4 quarters, 11 syllables each).
Events leading up to the war
The story of Mahabharat begins several generations prior to the events of the Kurukshetra War. However, we’ll limit our attention to the most recent events that result in the war. When king Vichitravirya died, his younger son, Pandu became the king of Hastinapur. His brother, Dhritarashtra, even though older, could not become the king as he was blind. Pandu had five children known as Pandavas – Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Dhritarashtra had one hundred sons, known as Kauravas. He also had one daughter. Duryodhana was the eldest of the Kaurava brothers.
Pandu died young leaving behind five young children. Dhritarashtra was made the king in the interim. He took care of the five Pandavas as well as his own one hundred sons. They all went to the same teachers for all their learning, including training in warfare which was essential for all princes. Pandavas excelled in all the fields of learning and thus became the favorite of their teachers and the elders in the family. As a result, Kauravas became jealous of the Pandavas.
In due course of time, as these children became adults, Dhritarashtra decided to divide the kingdom in two – Pandavas establishing their capital in Indraprastha and Kauravas decided to stay in Hastinapur. Being jealous, Kauravas began to harass and harm the Pandavas at every available opportunity. They even tried to kill the Pandavas on a few occasions. Once, Duryodhana and his uncle Shakuni invited Pandavas to a gambling match (game of dice). Through trickery and conceit, Yudhishthira and Pandavas lost the match and all their possessions, including their kingdom, wealth and even their wife, queen Draupadi. The Pandavas were exiled for thirteen years, of which the thirteenth was supposed to be “incognito”. That means, during that year if anyone were to recognize any of the Pandavas, they would have to go through this entire exile of thirteen years one more time.
After successfully completing the 13-year exile, the Pandavas returned and, as per the original agreement, reclaimed their kingdom. However, Duryodhana flatly refused to part with any part of the kingdom. He insisted that he would not give them even as much land as is occupied by the tip of a needle! Lord Krishna, a cousin and friend of Pandavas, was sent as an emissary to negotiate peace settlement. Even he was humiliated and insulted. Thus, war became inevitable. Krishna, being a cousin, made an offer to both the parties. Arjuna, being a friend of Krishna, opted to take “unarmed” Krishna on his side. Duryodhana, on the other hand, was delighted to get Krishna’s huge and powerful army on his side. Krishna, at Arjuna’s request, became his charioteer.
Arjuna’s dilemma
At Arjuna’s request, Krishna positioned the chariot in the middle of the two armies so Arjuna could see who the main warriors are on the enemy side. He looks across the battle line and sees his own cousins, uncles, other relatives and elders, teachers (gurus) etc. on the enemy side. Most of these are the same people responsible for his education and personal development in all the areas of learning. He feels despondent since he does not want to kill his own people, much less his own gurus (teachers). He tells Krishna that he would rather die or become a renunciate (monk) and strive for salvation rather than killing his own kith and kin. He argues that by killing the large army, he would create thousands of widows, creating chaos in the society. He offers many other intellectually sound reasons why he should not and cannot fight. He lays down the arms and refuses to fight.
After listening to Arjuna carefully, Krishna slowly begins to build his case wherein he would convince Arjuna to fight the war. The dialog that ensues between Krishna and Arjuna is the part of Mahabharat which is known to us as the Bhagavad Gita and primarily contains Krishna’s response to Arjuna’s confusion and moral dilemma. Krishna tells Arjuna that being a warrior prince, it was Arjuna’s moral duty to fight the war, so the values of “dharma” (righteousness) are upheld. The dialog contains the deepest truths of life, moral and spiritual guidelines, and, in fact, just about everything one needs to lead a meaningful, joyful, and spiritual life. It is interesting to note that the dialog took place in the middle of the battlefield of Kurukshetra, not in an ashram!
Chariot symbolism of the Gita
In Kathopanishad (1.3.3), through the symbolism of a chariot, there is a nice depiction of how the mind, body and intellect function. The same symbolism can be seen in the Gita as well. As mentioned above, at the request of Arjuna, Krishna agrees to become Arjuna’s charioteer in the Kurukshetra war.
The chariot represents the human body. The five horses are the five sense organs (tongue, eyes, ears, nose and skin). The reins symbolize the charioteer’s mind. The charioteer (Krishna) is the pure intellect (buddhi). The passenger (Arjuna) is the self (false ego). Life (body) is the chariot. At an individual level, the war of Kurukshetra represents our internal conflicts. These conflicts are constantly going on between the pure intellect and the ego, both trying to influence the mind. Unfortunately, in our current situation, it is the ego that usually is the “winner”. That, obviously, is the source of all human suffering. In this symbolism, you can think of the Kauravas and the Pandavas as representing our positive and negative tendencies based on our past samskaras (impressions stored in our subconscious memory).
To be continued …
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