Why Study the Gita? by Swami Dayananda Saraswati

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Greetings Advaitins:

 

This profound article by Swami Dayananda Sarsawatiji is a quick introduction

to Swamiji's Gita Homestudy Course. Swamiji has given permission to the list

to use the materials from the Gita Homestudy Course for the Satsang. We the

members of the list want to express our sincere gratitude to Arsha Vidya

Gurukulam for their support and cooperation in making the electronic version

available to us. Those who want more details about the Homestudy Course

should contact:

http://www.arshavidya.org/

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

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Why Study the Gita? by Swami Dayananda Saraswati

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Gita-sugita kartavya kim anyaih sastra vistaraih

 

Praising the Bhagavadgita, this verse says that the Gita has to be studied

well, gita-sugita kartavya; what will you gain by studying other books in

detail, kim anyaih sastra vistaraih? This verse presents the Gita as a book

to be studied, a book containing everything that has to know through the

scriptures [Vedas]. It doesn't belittle the efficay or the necessity of

studying other scriptual books; it only points out that the study of the Gita

amounts to the study of other scriptures.

 

The source books of the spiritual wisdom [of India] are the four Vedas,

rig-veda, yajur-veda, sama-veda, and atharva-veda. The vedas are fulfilled in

the last portion called Vedanta or Upanishads. Another famous Sanskrit verse

likens these Upanishads to a cow and the Gita becomes the cow's milk:

sarvapanisadogavah, dogha gopala-mandanah parthovatsah sudhibhokta dughdham

gitamrtam mahat. The Gita, the milk, is miled by Lord Krishna himself, who is

presented as an avatar of the Lord in the Mahabharata and in the Bhagavata.

He is the one who is teaching the Gita to Arjuna. Arjuna serves asthe calf to

whom the milk, the message of the Gita, is given.

 

What Constitutes a Scripture?

A scripture is something that has a message with a lasting, universal value.

What is relevant now, may not be relevant later; nor may it have been relevant

before. A scripture's message should be relevant to me as an individual and

to you; it should be relevant to anyone at any time and place. Only when a

message addresses certain problems that are always there for a human deing

does it have lasting relevance. Because the vedas and the Gita have that

kind of a message, they are a scripture.

 

The Gita Contains Two Main topics

The Gita is recognized and highly respected by the scholars and the devoted

lay public in India because of its two main topics: yoga-sastra and

brahma-vidya. Together they form the body of knowledge which is very important

for every individual.

 

Yoga-sastra

The knowledge meant to make a person mature as an individual is called

yoga-sastra. A mature individual is one who is free from conflicts, fear,

agitation, guilt, and hurt.

 

Brahma-vidya

Brahma-vidya is knowledge of the whole, the knowledge that liberates a

person. A pperson who has become mature by yoga has something more to

accomplish - total freedom, generally called moksha. To know Brahman is to

know the truth of oneself as the whole, as complete. The discovery of thsi

fact frees you from all sense of limitation and isolation.

So the first message of the Gita, yoga-sastra, helps you to gain maturity as a

person, as an individual. It helps one to become relatively composed,

tanquail, alert and free - in short, a cheerful person. You are then fit to

gain brahma-visya, knowledge that you are the whole, knowledge that frees you

from the notion of being a small, limited, mortal being. These two topics of

the Gita, which form the very essence of all four Vedas, make the Gita a

scripture with a message that is relevant for everyone.

 

The Context of the Gita

The Gita itself is set in a battlefield, not in the Himalayas, or in a

forest. Arjuna is face-to-face with a problem born of conflict between his

familial affections and the call of duty. On one side, it seems to be

necessary for him to perform his duty, which was to fight the war. Then,

there is another equally powerful pull - his affection for his family and

teachers and his own self respect, which conflict with the concept of duty.

Caught betwen the horns of duty and affection, Arjuna is confused as he stands

between the two forces on the battlefield.

 

The battle has been declared because Duryodhana has usurped the kingdom. The

rightful rulers were the Pandavas, Arjuna and his four brothers, who had been

in exile for thriteen years. When they returned to claim the kingdom back as

it was promised, Dhuryodhana who had enjoyed absolute power didn't want to

give up the kingdom. The Pandavas had tried to avoid a war by asking Krishna

to act as a mediator. Krishna went to Duryodhana to work out a solution as

that both parties would be happy. Duryodhana wouldn't give the kingdom back

nor een share the kingdom with the Pandavas. He would not give a district,

acounty, avillage with five houses, nor a house with five rooms; not even a

square inch of land would he give. He said, "let them either go back into the

forest or meet me in the battlefield." Thus, Krishna's attempt to negotiate

had failed and there was no way of avoiding war. Arjuna and his brothers

were supposed to be the rulers; Duryodhana, their cousin, was occupying the

kingdom improperly. Arjuna, who was considered the greatest archer of the

time, was now called upon to fight to uphold the dharma.

 

Given this situation, the Gita opens. Arjuna is seated in a chariot driven by

Lord Krisna and drawn by white horses. He has been waiting for thsi day to

settle his account with Duryodhana. Duryodhana had wronged him in a number of

incidents throughout hislife, but he could do nothing. Now the day has come.

Arjuna is a flame of fury and he wants to know, "In this battlefiled, who are

the people with whom I should fight?" He asks Krishna to place the chariot

between the two forces.

 

Arjuna's Conflict

When Arjuna looked, he found highly respected people like Drona, his own

teacher, Bhishma, his grandfather, and many relatives and acquaintances with

whom he has to fight. He said, "What is the use of fighting all these people?

Without killing them, I'm not going to get the kingdom back. And what is the

use of getting the kingdom back by destroying the people in whose company I

would be happy?" Arjuna saw that in war nobody ia a winner. "I don't care for

the kingdom nor I am interested in royal comforts. I don't see anything to be

gained by the war. I see a black, dark future; therefore, I'm not interested

in this fight." Arjuna gave up his bow and arrows. Then, Krishna spoke to

Arjuna to enthuse him, urging him to do his duty.

 

Arjuna becomes a Sisya

While caught between the call of duty and his emotions, Arjuna begins to

appreciate a fundamental problem, the problem of a human being. That problem

takes posession of his mind and he wants to find a solution. Finding a

teacher in Lord Krishna, he presents himself to Krishna as a Sisya, disciple.

Arjuna was always a devotee, but not a sisya; he finds himself a sisya on the

battlefield. Lord Krishna accespts Arjuna as a disciple and teaches him in

the succeeding 17 chapers of the Gita.

Throughout the Gita the yoga-sastra is given; telling one the ways and means

to be a mature person free from conflicts, fear, hurt, and guilt. Along with

the yoga message is the brahma-vidya, knowledge ofthe reality of yourself

being the essence of everything, your being the whole. The Gta has all that

is to be learned from the four Vedas, which are a vast lierature. Therefore,

the Gita has to be studied, and if it is understood well, everything is well

understood.