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Greetings Advaitins:

 

As posted by Sri. Madhava Turumella, Advaitin Electronic Mailing List

organizes a Gita Satsang from the New Millennium. Sri Madhava Turumella the

coordinator of the Satsang is ably assisted by a team of dedicated members.

Everyone in the list should take this opportunity to study and understand

Bhagavad Gita by reading and participating in the discussions. Bhagavd

Gita is set in the middle of the Mahabharata, one of the most

revered epics of India. Ramayana and Mahabharata are the two greatest epics

of India narrating the social and moral life of India. The Mahabharata is

comprised of 100,000 or more verses, making it perhaps the largest

epic in world literature. It is spread over eighteen Parvas (Books)

and Gita occupies Chapters 25 to 42 of the Bhishma Parva.

 

Brief Summary of Mahabharata Story:

On the death of King Pandu, his brother, the blind Dhrtarashtra

takes over the kingdom. He is partial to his sons, the Kauravas,

against the claims to the kingdom, of the five sons of Pandu,

better known as the Pandavas. Hostility develops between the cousins,

and the Kauravas deprive the Pandavas of their rights to the

kingdom, by trickery at a dice game which requires the losers to

suffer exile for 12 years. At the end of that period, when the

Pandavas return, the Kauravas decline to restore their rights,

despite advice from Krishna, and war between them becomes inevitable.

With the two sides arraigned against each other at Kurukshetra,

Arjuna, the chief warrior among the Pandavas, asks Krishna, who has

agreed to be his charioteer, to position their chariot between the

two armies, from where he may be able to survey the line-up of

the enemy. And seeing in their ranks, his kith and kin, respected

elders and revered teachers, he is dismayed at the prospect of

fighting them and killing them. Stricken with a sense of moral

crisis, Arjuna turns to Krishna for guidance. This is the starting

point of Krishna's teaching which constitutes the Bhagavad Gita - a

teaching in the course of which, it soon appears that Krishna

speaks as the Lord Vishnu Himself, in human form.

 

Contrasting Characters of Mahabharata:

Duryodhana, the leader of the Kauravas, the eldest of the one hundred sons of

Dhrtarashtra and Gandahari. His greed for the empire, his hatred towards the

Pandavas and his arrogance to listen to the advice from Bhishma (his

grandfather), Dronacharya (Kula Guru) and Krishna (his uncle) that led to the

Mahabharat war and the ultimate destruction of Kaurava army.

 

Pandavas are the five sons of king Pandu of Hastinapura namely: Yudhishthira,

Bhima and Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Yudhishthira the eldest of the Pandavas

was the embodiment of Dharmic life with Satvik Gunas (symbol of nobility and

high ethics). Pandavas tried their level best to restore Dharma without the

Mahabharat war but war became inevitable and at the end of the war, they

destroyed the entire Kaurava Army. Pandavas attributed all their success to

the blessings of elders including Bhishma, Dhrtarashtra, Gandhari, Kunti and

Krishna.

 

Fundamental Message of Mahabharata

Mahabharata is a sociological history of India describing its moral and

ethical standards and its sense of value judgements in dealing with each other

under a variety of circumstances commonly arising in any society ancient or

modern. When this history was first compiled by Veda Vyasa, it consisted of

twenty four thousand stanzas called Jaya (victory) of Dharma (righteousness)

over Adharma (evil).

 

The Message of Bhagavad Gita

The Gita unfolds in 700 slokas or verses, spread over 18 Adhyayas

(Chapters). The slokas are in poetic form, set in the Anushtup

Chandas, a metre that is adopted in all major Sanskrit works. This

metre requires strict conformity to a structure of 32 Aksharas

(syllables), spread equally over two groups in each of the two

lines comprising a sloka. This structure is designed as much for

maintaining the aesthetic framework of poetic composition, as for

sustaining accuracy in the the tradition of oral transmission of

knowledge. Each Chapter ends with a colophon which assigns to it

the title of a Yoga of a specific name, and describes it as a

Chapter of the Upanishad called the Bhagavad Gita, which treats of

Brahma Vidya, (the Knowledge of Brahman) and Yoga Sastra (the

Science of Yoga), in the form of a dialogue between Krishna and

Arjuna.

 

The Gita brings unique meaning to each individual who reads it.

Each reader brings to bear a range and depth of understanding,

unique to his/her personality, perceptions and perspectives. Each

repeated reading also brings new perspectives that were not seen

before. Commentaries on the Gita reflect the personality, perceptions

and perspectives of the commentators and can greatly enhance our

understanding. But we should recognize that our understanding is limited

by our knowledge and background. We have to decide for himself on where

we want to go, and how best we can reach there. But it will soon

become obvious to the reader that the teaching of the Gita is set

in a framework of universal and eternal relevance, that does not

rule out any viewpoint that is rooted in any particular religion or

philosophy, or indeed any wholly unique and individual viewpoint.

 

Let me take this opportunity to congratulate Sri Madhavaji for his beautiful

introduction and guidelines for the discussions. It is quite nice of him to

develop a homepage dedicated to Gita Satsang and which will eventually become

a treasure to Web surfers during the next millennium.

Fianlly, let me wish you all a happy and peaceful New Millennium,

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran