Guest guest Posted April 3, 2005 Report Share Posted April 3, 2005 Dear Veena, Your idea is laudable but as you may know the intrepretation of Gita containing 18 chapters n a thousand slokas is not such an easy job.I am not discouraging but an astute study of every sloka and the meaning which can be intrepreted by various devotees in their own way and there r umpteen number of books on this subject each quoting different thing in their own way.So the presentation of each sloka shuld be done in a methodical way which invite least comments from the devotees as each may follow different books written by different authors and with different ideas.So all these must be assimilated into a nice form and presented and the task is a very onerous one and when started the flow must be continuous.It may take many many months to cover just like a megha serial and the dedication of the persons presenting the verse and the meaning in an appreciable way and in a lucid style so that there shuld be no confusion and arguments and discussions can be limited to a great extent. I on my part can extent my co operation to the best of my ability and make your wish a success for the benefit of everso many devotees who actually speaking a very great percentage would hv heard abt Gita but hv no idea what the Lord says as Gita is a form of enunciation of way of life,dealing with what is a dharma n what is adharma,what is absolute devotion,duty,dedication, how one has to act under a certain circumstance,what are the different types of devotees and non devotees,what are the various yogas for attaining liberation and so many other factors.It is also said that what is in Gita cant be found anywhere.As Gita contains explanations for all situations. Of course I need not go in detail now as you must hv sufficient knowledge abt the matter and I only suggested that the presentation part shuld be in such a way that those who hv access to the matter shuld show more and more interest in the subject.If that can be fulfilled then it would be a great success and a wonderful service of the contributors to make devotees who hv only vague idea abt the varios chapters and slokas and the meaning they import. Anyway it is a fantastic idea and I do hope more people will join in this Yagna for the benefit of all as Lord says both believers and non believers are my devotees and I dont find any difference among them. so go ahead in the project which will be long and of course you will hv enough support even if there may or may not be much adulation initially as time goes by I am sure more and more people will join in this Maha Yagna out of interest and curiosity.I hope Vinod will also lend his helping hand and other devotees will join when once the idea is floated and materialised.The selection of Vishu day is an ideal one.I do hope more people will join in this Group to inculcate more spirit in others.I am sure the Lord will be pleased in such a venture.Organising mails and other parts I dont hv any suggestion at present. Hare Krishna,Guruvayoorappa. agraman Veena Nair <vee_1807 wrote: Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our database for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Group, I have some more points to share with before we start. Let us make this talk a more elaborate & robust one. Discussion should not simply begin with GITA shlokas. Instead, we need to throw light on some points like - 1. Krishna as the deliverer of GITA (As Jagadguru) - Let's compare this form of Krishna with his other lilas (in Vrindavanam, Dwarika, Mathura, Hastinapura etc.) & study how Krishna as Jagadguru stands in our kali life. 2. Why Arjuna & no one else (Yudhhisthira etc.).... & that too in the war field ? 3. Anjaneya (as a silent observer), Sanjay, Vyasa etc. blessed by Krishna in the course of his delivery. 4. Krishna approaching Udhhava & Arjuna at crisis times with GITA .... The former known as Udhhava GITA & the later known as Bhagavad GITA. Why " Karma Yoga " to Arjuna & " Bhakti Yoga " to Udhhava.....Let's compare the differences. 5. GITA mahatmyam & phalashruti .... All, please add on your comments ....... Hare Krishna ... Hare Rama ..... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Sunday, April 03, 2005 2:42 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] RE: Geeta Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our da! tabase for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! ! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 Yes Vinod, Naturally for any book or prayer there is an introduction and dhyana sloka.Similarly it is quite useful to hv a brief sketch of the Lord from his childhood,Lord Krishna has don many roles as a child with lot of pranks,then as a romantic hero with gopikas,as a warrior,as a king, as a householder marrying in a clever way,showing his prowess,then become the friend and guide of both Pandavas and Gauravas ,then as a messenger for pandavas,then as a supporter of pandavas in the war,and then finally emerges as a world teacher before His departure from this world.So many roles He has done and it is worthwhile a brief sketch is given though not elaborately as it will go away from the tangent of the main subject of Gita but a gist of His various attributes and character.That would be useful for the devotees.That shuld be the motto. There are so many reasons for selecting Arjuna for teaching Gita as arjuna was dearest to Him as he was a great devotee of Him than others and never wavers in His mind except in the battle field and so he was selected for teaching Gita.Anjaneya had vowed that He would bring victory to pandavas but will never take part in the battle as he considered the war was not a dharmic one and hence he preferred to be in the flag of arjunas rath showing face the other side without seeing what was going on.For him dharma was supreme.so he was never interested in the battle for mundane things.these are coming at a later stage but initially some paragraphs may be to begin with be included regarding the childhood of Krishna and His divine qualities and other things just like Bhattathiri started from the avatara of Vishnu as fish(Matsya avatara and other avatars till he came to Krishna avatara which he elaborately dwelt in).It can also be in such a way that a child with divine qualities rose stage by stage to become the Guru or World Teacher who could elaborately discuss all the aspects of life thereby showing His avataric qualities.Krishna also vowed that He wont take part in the war but only as a sarathy to arjuna and as an advisor.But he too became angry when arjuna hesitated to kill Bhishma and with his sudarsana disc went to finish Bhishma though He was prevented by arjuna.That shows the extent to which He could go to protect His devotees. I feel instead of tellng the story from the beginning some portions may be said and then start with Gita for some time and again go back to the other aspects in this way mixing the teachings in Gita with other of His aspectsincluding showing of His Viswaroopa to arjuna will be more interesting instead of continuing to recite only Gita verses which may become somewhat unappreciable.This is only my feeling.For that a proper script must be prepared to include what are the items must come in between the description of Gita.Hope this may be acceptable.We invite more suggestions on this so that a nice piece will emerge.Lord selected the battle field for His teachings as our minds are like Kurushetra always vacillating with eversomany problems and thoughts..Hence to quell the disturbing mind He chose the battle field.thereby resembling our minds as a war field.Yudhishtra knows dharma but arjuna was steadfast in His devotion to the Lord and arjuna was selected for imbibing the teachings. I am sure by the Grace of Lord Krishna this venture will meet with great success. Hare Krishna, agraman " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Group, I have some more points to share with before we start. Let us make this talk a more elaborate & robust one. Discussion should not simply begin with GITA shlokas. Instead, we need to throw light on some points like - 1. Krishna as the deliverer of GITA (As Jagadguru) - Let's compare this form of Krishna with his other lilas (in Vrindavanam, Dwarika, Mathura, Hastinapura etc.) & study how Krishna as Jagadguru stands in our kali life. 2. Why Arjuna & no one else (Yudhhisthira etc.).... & that too in the war field ? 3. Anjaneya (as a silent observer), Sanjay, Vyasa etc. blessed by Krishna in the course of his delivery. 4. Krishna approaching Udhhava & Arjuna at crisis times with GITA .... The former known as Udhhava GITA & the later known as Bhagavad GITA. Why " Karma Yoga " to Arjuna & " Bhakti Yoga " to Udhhava.....Let's compare the differences. 5. GITA mahatmyam & phalashruti .... All, please add on your comments ....... Hare Krishna ... Hare Rama ..... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Sunday, April 03, 2005 2:42 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] RE: Geeta Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our da! tabase for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! ! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2005 Report Share Posted April 5, 2005 As Sri Ganapathy Raman put it, it is a very onerous task to compile & discuss all the different interpretations. There are over 1000 editions of the gita each differing from one another in their interpretation. The following authors are considered to be realized acharyas representing a tradition. To be able to hear and discuss their words itself is a great fortune but the danger one may also get confused as to whose interpretation is absolute if he learns every thing. Best is to learn from a guru coming from a tradition if one is fortunate. 1) Sankara - Advaita 2) Ramanuja - Visishtadvaita 3) Madhwa - Dwaita 4) Srila Prabhupada, Visvanath Cakravarthy Thakura, Baladev Vidyabhushana - Achintya Bheda Abheda 5) Madhusudana - Advaita but is interesting because he considers Krishna to be the supreme lord and other influences of achintya bheda abheda tradition of caitanya. He also interprets every word. 6) Sridhara Swami - Kevala Advaita. He is also said to be showing the influence of caitanya's tradition. 7) Vallabhacharya - Suddha Advaita. He considers Vatsalya rasa ( or parental transcendental affection towards the lord ) to be the greatest. Caitanya and his followers consider Madhurya rasa to be the greatest. I dont know if there are commentaries based on bheda abheda of bhaskara and dwaita advaita still extant & practised by living tradition. Please correct me if I have said any thing wrong. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Veena, Your idea is laudable but as you may know the intrepretation of Gita containing 18 chapters n a thousand slokas is not such an easy job.I am not discouraging but an astute study of every sloka and the meaning which can be intrepreted by various devotees in their own way and there r umpteen number of books on this subject each quoting different thing in their own way.So the presentation of each sloka shuld be done in a methodical way which invite least comments from the devotees as each may follow different books written by different authors and with different ideas.So all these must be assimilated into a nice form and presented and the task is a very onerous one and when started the flow must be continuous.It may take many many months to cover just like a megha serial and the dedication of the persons presenting the verse and the meaning in an appreciable way and in a lucid style so that there shuld be no confusion and arguments and discussions can be limited to a great extent. I on my part can extent my co operation to the best of my ability and make your wish a success for the benefit of everso many devotees who actually speaking a very great percentage would hv heard abt Gita but hv no idea what the Lord says as Gita is a form of enunciation of way of life,dealing with what is a dharma n what is adharma,what is absolute devotion,duty,dedication, how one has to act under a certain circumstance,what are the different types of devotees and non devotees,what are the various yogas for attaining liberation and so many other factors.It is also said that what is in Gita cant be found anywhere.As Gita contains explanations for all situations. Of course I need not go in detail now as you must hv sufficient knowledge abt the matter and I only suggested that the presentation part shuld be in such a way that those who hv access to the matter shuld show more and more interest in the subject.If that can be fulfilled then it would be a great success and a wonderful service of the contributors to make devotees who hv only vague idea abt the varios chapters and slokas and the meaning they import. Anyway it is a fantastic idea and I do hope more people will join in this Yagna for the benefit of all as Lord says both believers and non believers are my devotees and I dont find any difference among them. so go ahead in the project which will be long and of course you will hv enough support even if there may or may not be much adulation initially as time goes by I am sure more and more people will join in this Maha Yagna out of interest and curiosity.I hope Vinod will also lend his helping hand and other devotees will join when once the idea is floated and materialised.The selection of Vishu day is an ideal one.I do hope more people will join in this Group to inculcate more spirit in others.I am sure the Lord will be pleased in such a venture.Organising mails and other parts I dont hv any suggestion at present. Hare Krishna,Guruvayoorappa. agraman Veena Nair <vee_1807 wrote: Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our database for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2005 Report Share Posted April 5, 2005 Dear Rajaram, Actually speaking I dont know whether you are off the tangent.Now we are not concerned with the various siddhanthas like Advaita,Dwaita,Vishitadvaita etc.Each acharya had his own method to reach and teach his philosophy.But as far as I know none of them has disputed Bhagavat Gita.Even Adi Sankara the doyen of advaita has written abt Gita and so too many others.So there need be no confusion on that point.Here what Veena proposed is to impart the commonly read Bhagavat Gita where Lord Krishna teaches the various aspects of life.Of course what I meant by intrepretations is that there is a cluster of books on Gita and lot of authors have given their versions on the various chapter verses.So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance.That is of course a herculian task and requires some master brain.We need not require any Guru for studying Gita and a Guru is essential to study Vedas,Upanishads etc.I dont know whether there is some confusion in your mind.What you hv quoted has nothing to do with Gita which is acclaimed as a Great master piece and also translated into many languages I understand.So instead of embarking on other things let us confine ourselves only to the subject of Gita.I am sorry if you feel offended as that is not my intention but I hv a doubt whether you hv not properly understood abt the discussion that Veena mooted.Hare Krishna.Your point we will discuss later. Regards, agraman Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: As Sri Ganapathy Raman put it, it is a very onerous task to compile & discuss all the different interpretations. There are over 1000 editions of the gita each differing from one another in their interpretation. The following authors are considered to be realized acharyas representing a tradition. To be able to hear and discuss their words itself is a great fortune but the danger one may also get confused as to whose interpretation is absolute if he learns every thing. Best is to learn from a guru coming from a tradition if one is fortunate. 1) Sankara - Advaita 2) Ramanuja - Visishtadvaita 3) Madhwa - Dwaita 4) Srila Prabhupada, Visvanath Cakravarthy Thakura, Baladev Vidyabhushana - Achintya Bheda Abheda 5) Madhusudana - Advaita but is interesting because he considers Krishna to be the supreme lord and other influences of achintya bheda abheda tradition of caitanya. He also interprets every word. 6) Sridhara Swami - Kevala Advaita. He is also said to be showing the influence of caitanya's tradition. 7) Vallabhacharya - Suddha Advaita. He considers Vatsalya rasa ( or parental transcendental affection towards the lord ) to be the greatest. Caitanya and his followers consider Madhurya rasa to be the greatest. I dont know if there are commentaries based on bheda abheda of bhaskara and dwaita advaita still extant & practised by living tradition. Please correct me if I have said any thing wrong. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Veena, Your idea is laudable but as you may know the intrepretation of Gita containing 18 chapters n a thousand slokas is not such an easy job.I am not discouraging but an astute study of every sloka and the meaning which can be intrepreted by various devotees in their own way and there r umpteen number of books on this subject each quoting different thing in their own way.So the presentation of each sloka shuld be done in a methodical way which invite least comments from the devotees as each may follow different books written by different authors and with different ideas.So all these must be assimilated into a nice form and presented and the task is a very onerous one and when started the flow must be continuous.It may take many many months to cover just like a megha serial and the dedication of the persons presenting the verse and the meaning in an appreciable way and in a lucid style so that there shuld be no confusion and arguments and discussions can be limited to a great extent. I on my part can extent my co operation to the best of my ability and make your wish a success for the benefit of everso many devotees who actually speaking a very great percentage would hv heard abt Gita but hv no idea what the Lord says as Gita is a form of enunciation of way of life,dealing with what is a dharma n what is adharma,what is absolute devotion,duty,dedication, how one has to act under a certain circumstance,what are the different types of devotees and non devotees,what are the various yogas for attaining liberation and so many other factors.It is also said that what is in Gita cant be found anywhere.As Gita contains explanations for all situations. Of course I need not go in detail now as you must hv sufficient knowledge abt the matter and I only suggested that the presentation part shuld be in such a way that those who hv access to the matter shuld show more and more interest in the subject.If that can be fulfilled then it would be a great success and a wonderful service of the contributors to make devotees who hv only vague idea abt the varios chapters and slokas and the meaning they import. Anyway it is a fantastic idea and I do hope more people will join in this Yagna for the benefit of all as Lord says both believers and non believers are my devotees and I dont find any difference among them. so go ahead in the project which will be long and of course you will hv enough support even if there may or may not be much adulation initially as time goes by I am sure more and more people will join in this Maha Yagna out of interest and curiosity.I hope Vinod will also lend his helping hand and other devotees will join when once the idea is floated and materialised.The selection of Vishu day is an ideal one.I do hope more people will join in this Group to inculcate more spirit in others.I am sure the Lord will be pleased in such a venture.Organising mails and other parts I dont hv any suggestion at present. Hare Krishna,Guruvayoorappa. agraman Veena Nair <vee_1807 wrote: Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our database for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Dear Sri Ganapathu Raman - I am not offended by what you have said. So feel free to make your points as we belong to one family of devotees of lord krishna. But I am verily on the same subject that Veena & you are talking about. As you pointed out, " So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance. " My point was about which authors to choose from one of the 1000 odd interpretations. I favoured choosing the acharyas representing a tradition for the following reasons : 1) BG was instructed to Arjuna by Lord Krishna after Arjuna said " sishyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam " in BG 2.7. That is " I am your surrendered disciple " . And in BG 4.2, the lord says that this knowledge was received through parampara - " evam parampara praptam " . So it seems to me that to appreciate Gitopanishad one has to go through guru mukham. Please correct me if you think my understanding is wrong with appropriate pramana. 2) Gita has to be seen in the context of the whole vedic literature as it is the essence of the teachings of the upanishads. It may be misleading to read the works of people who dont have proper training in sruti, smrti and puranas. To clarify that this is what Krishna means here, one should have realized Krishna or represent an acharya who has realized God. I think mere knowledge of sanskrit or worldly wisdom would be insufficient to interpret the Gita. That is why I recommend choosing the works of the acharyas over common people. If there are people representing different traditions on this group, the discussion would lead to better understanding of vedanta. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Rajaram, Actually speaking I dont know whether you are off the tangent.Now we are not concerned with the various siddhanthas like Advaita,Dwaita,Vishitadvaita etc.Each acharya had his own method to reach and teach his philosophy.But as far as I know none of them has disputed Bhagavat Gita.Even Adi Sankara the doyen of advaita has written abt Gita and so too many others.So there need be no confusion on that point.Here what Veena proposed is to impart the commonly read Bhagavat Gita where Lord Krishna teaches the various aspects of life.Of course what I meant by intrepretations is that there is a cluster of books on Gita and lot of authors have given their versions on the various chapter verses.So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance.That is of course a herculian task and requires some master brain.We need not require any Guru for studying Gita and a Guru is essential to study Vedas,Upanishads etc.I dont know whether there is some confusion in your mind.What you hv quoted has nothing to do with Gita which is acclaimed as a Great master piece and also translated into many languages I understand.So instead of embarking on other things let us confine ourselves only to the subject of Gita.I am sorry if you feel offended as that is not my intention but I hv a doubt whether you hv not properly understood abt the discussion that Veena mooted.Hare Krishna.Your point we will discuss later. Regards, agraman Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: As Sri Ganapathy Raman put it, it is a very onerous task to compile & discuss all the different interpretations. There are over 1000 editions of the gita each differing from one another in their interpretation. The following authors are considered to be realized acharyas representing a tradition. To be able to hear and discuss their words itself is a great fortune but the danger one may also get confused as to whose interpretation is absolute if he learns every thing. Best is to learn from a guru coming from a tradition if one is fortunate. 1) Sankara - Advaita 2) Ramanuja - Visishtadvaita 3) Madhwa - Dwaita 4) Srila Prabhupada, Visvanath Cakravarthy Thakura, Baladev Vidyabhushana - Achintya Bheda Abheda 5) Madhusudana - Advaita but is interesting because he considers Krishna to be the supreme lord and other influences of achintya bheda abheda tradition of caitanya. He also interprets every word. 6) Sridhara Swami - Kevala Advaita. He is also said to be showing the influence of caitanya's tradition. 7) Vallabhacharya - Suddha Advaita. He considers Vatsalya rasa ( or parental transcendental affection towards the lord ) to be the greatest. Caitanya and his followers consider Madhurya rasa to be the greatest. I dont know if there are commentaries based on bheda abheda of bhaskara and dwaita advaita still extant & practised by living tradition. Please correct me if I have said any thing wrong. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Veena, Your idea is laudable but as you may know the intrepretation of Gita containing 18 chapters n a thousand slokas is not such an easy job.I am not discouraging but an astute study of every sloka and the meaning which can be intrepreted by various devotees in their own way and there r umpteen number of books on this subject each quoting different thing in their own way.So the presentation of each sloka shuld be done in a methodical way which invite least comments from the devotees as each may follow different books written by different authors and with different ideas.So all these must be assimilated into a nice form and presented and the task is a very onerous one and when started the flow must be continuous.It may take many many months to cover just like a megha serial and the dedication of the persons presenting the verse and the meaning in an appreciable way and in a lucid style so that there shuld be no confusion and arguments and discussions can be limited to a great extent. I on my part can extent my co operation to the best of my ability and make your wish a success for the benefit of everso many devotees who actually speaking a very great percentage would hv heard abt Gita but hv no idea what the Lord says as Gita is a form of enunciation of way of life,dealing with what is a dharma n what is adharma,what is absolute devotion,duty,dedication, how one has to act under a certain circumstance,what are the different types of devotees and non devotees,what are the various yogas for attaining liberation and so many other factors.It is also said that what is in Gita cant be found anywhere.As Gita contains explanations for all situations. Of course I need not go in detail now as you must hv sufficient knowledge abt the matter and I only suggested that the presentation part shuld be in such a way that those who hv access to the matter shuld show more and more interest in the subject.If that can be fulfilled then it would be a great success and a wonderful service of the contributors to make devotees who hv only vague idea abt the varios chapters and slokas and the meaning they import. Anyway it is a fantastic idea and I do hope more people will join in this Yagna for the benefit of all as Lord says both believers and non believers are my devotees and I dont find any difference among them. so go ahead in the project which will be long and of course you will hv enough support even if there may or may not be much adulation initially as time goes by I am sure more and more people will join in this Maha Yagna out of interest and curiosity.I hope Vinod will also lend his helping hand and other devotees will join when once the idea is floated and materialised.The selection of Vishu day is an ideal one.I do hope more people will join in this Group to inculcate more spirit in others.I am sure the Lord will be pleased in such a venture.Organising mails and other parts I dont hv any suggestion at present. Hare Krishna,Guruvayoorappa. agraman Veena Nair <vee_1807 wrote: Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our database for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 Dear Rajaram, I appreciate the sentiments expressed by you and in some way you are correct.But I wish to stress here I presume the suggestions made by Veena and VINOD is only to explain the verses of Gita and their importation.It is not meant to replace Vedas,Upanishads etc.People hear and quote Gita but actually they dont know any of the verses I mean a gud percentage and their meanings and how they shuld be guided by the tatwas Gita enunciate.It is not going to be something like some mantropadesha for which a Guru is essential but to elucidate what Gita says in the different chapters or rather what Lord Krishna explains the doubts raised by Arjuna for the everso many doubts he was having.Of course Great people like Sankara,Madhva,Ramanuja and others hv written bashyams on Bhagavat Gita which only scholars can understand.So the idea behind this suggestion is to put the meaning in an appreciable way with quotes if any for everybody to understand. Even Sage Vyasa wrote GITA SUGITA KARTHAVYA KIMANYAI: SASTRASANGRAHAI: YA SWAYAM PADHMANABHASYA MUGHAPADMATHVINISRUTHA He means that the Gita came from the Lotus face of Padhmanabha and to learn,hear,study well will suffice and there is no necessity to study any sastras.So in fact Gita contains all the essence of vedas and sastras.All wont be fortunate to learn those things which could be studied under an astute person whi has mastered those things.So the idea of telling the meaning of the verses contained in the Gita for everybodys sake.I am not a scholar and dont know much abt Vedas and sastras and also dont know the meaning of verses of Gita and the portrayal of the same in this forum will help people like me to grasp what exactly Gita contains and what the Lord has enunciated in His teachings so that people like me can try to emulate to the best of our ability.Books published by Gita Press,Gorakpur and Swami Chinmayanandas everso many books on Gita would be sufficient to get a gud knowledge.Of course more may be added to convenience. Lord Krishna also says: GITASREYAHAM DHISHTAMI GITA MAY SHOTHAMAM GRAHAM GITAJNANAMUPASHRYTHYA THREENLOKAN BALAYAMYAHAM. the above is from Varaha Purana meaning that the Lord lives by Gita.My best dwelling is Gita.It is thru the Gyanam that is bestowed by Gita I protect all the worlds.I think this may be my answer for yr parambara when the whole thing comes from the Lord where is the other parambara? Hence dear Rajaram I dont want to make any controversy on this and yr idea of having a Guru is not practicable.Sometimes one must be pragmatic in his approach.From where one will find an adept Guru?Can all the devotees go to such people to get clarifications ?.where r they?Gandhiji,Nehru,Arabinda Ghosh,Vinobaji,Rajaji and everso many luminouries hv studied Gita and some of them made it a practice to recite everyday.But as far as I know none of them had any Guru except Lord Krishna.the Greatest of all Gurus.Such be the case why you want to embark on a Gurukulam idea which is well nigh impossible as you know.So the best way for interaction is thru some portals like this where views can be exchanged.If you and I go in search of some Guru can we hv any connection unless this forum has come. I express my view from a practical angle.I am not disputing what you hv said that may be yr view.I wonder why the people who suggested this topic VEENA n VINOD hv not expressed any opinion apart from some suggestions and why there is a dearth of persons to exchange views.Is it coz of non attachment or non interest in the subject.I AM GIVING MY OWN OPINION AND I dont expect all to accept the same as everbody has his/her own views on any subject. Anyway I am happy that I hv been able to learn something from yr mail.Knowledge develops only thru such exchanges.Best wishes. Hare Krishna. agraman Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: Dear Sri Ganapathu Raman - I am not offended by what you have said. So feel free to make your points as we belong to one family of devotees of lord krishna. But I am verily on the same subject that Veena & you are talking about. As you pointed out, " So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance. " My point was about which authors to choose from one of the 1000 odd interpretations. I favoured choosing the acharyas representing a tradition for the following reasons : 1) BG was instructed to Arjuna by Lord Krishna after Arjuna said " sishyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam " in BG 2.7. That is " I am your surrendered disciple " . And in BG 4.2, the lord says that this knowledge was received through parampara - " evam parampara praptam " . So it seems to me that to appreciate Gitopanishad one has to go through guru mukham. Please correct me if you think my understanding is wrong with appropriate pramana. 2) Gita has to be seen in the context of the whole vedic literature as it is the essence of the teachings of the upanishads. It may be misleading to read the works of people who dont have proper training in sruti, smrti and puranas. To clarify that this is what Krishna means here, one should have realized Krishna or represent an acharya who has realized God. I think mere knowledge of sanskrit or worldly wisdom would be insufficient to interpret the Gita. That is why I recommend choosing the works of the acharyas over common people. If there are people representing different traditions on this group, the discussion would lead to better understanding of vedanta. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Rajaram, Actually speaking I dont know whether you are off the tangent.Now we are not concerned with the various siddhanthas like Advaita,Dwaita,Vishitadvaita etc.Each acharya had his own method to reach and teach his philosophy.But as far as I know none of them has disputed Bhagavat Gita.Even Adi Sankara the doyen of advaita has written abt Gita and so too many others.So there need be no confusion on that point.Here what Veena proposed is to impart the commonly read Bhagavat Gita where Lord Krishna teaches the various aspects of life.Of course what I meant by intrepretations is that there is a cluster of books on Gita and lot of authors have given their versions on the various chapter verses.So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance.That is of course a herculian task and requires some master brain.We need not require any Guru for studying Gita and a Guru is essential to study Vedas,Upanishads etc.I dont know whether there is some confusion in your mind.What you hv quoted has nothing to do with Gita which is acclaimed as a Great master piece and also translated into many languages I understand.So instead of embarking on other things let us confine ourselves only to the subject of Gita.I am sorry if you feel offended as that is not my intention but I hv a doubt whether you hv not properly understood abt the discussion that Veena mooted.Hare Krishna.Your point we will discuss later. Regards, agraman Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: As Sri Ganapathy Raman put it, it is a very onerous task to compile & discuss all the different interpretations. There are over 1000 editions of the gita each differing from one another in their interpretation. The following authors are considered to be realized acharyas representing a tradition. To be able to hear and discuss their words itself is a great fortune but the danger one may also get confused as to whose interpretation is absolute if he learns every thing. Best is to learn from a guru coming from a tradition if one is fortunate. 1) Sankara - Advaita 2) Ramanuja - Visishtadvaita 3) Madhwa - Dwaita 4) Srila Prabhupada, Visvanath Cakravarthy Thakura, Baladev Vidyabhushana - Achintya Bheda Abheda 5) Madhusudana - Advaita but is interesting because he considers Krishna to be the supreme lord and other influences of achintya bheda abheda tradition of caitanya. He also interprets every word. 6) Sridhara Swami - Kevala Advaita. He is also said to be showing the influence of caitanya's tradition. 7) Vallabhacharya - Suddha Advaita. He considers Vatsalya rasa ( or parental transcendental affection towards the lord ) to be the greatest. Caitanya and his followers consider Madhurya rasa to be the greatest. I dont know if there are commentaries based on bheda abheda of bhaskara and dwaita advaita still extant & practised by living tradition. Please correct me if I have said any thing wrong. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Veena, Your idea is laudable but as you may know the intrepretation of Gita containing 18 chapters n a thousand slokas is not such an easy job.I am not discouraging but an astute study of every sloka and the meaning which can be intrepreted by various devotees in their own way and there r umpteen number of books on this subject each quoting different thing in their own way.So the presentation of each sloka shuld be done in a methodical way which invite least comments from the devotees as each may follow different books written by different authors and with different ideas.So all these must be assimilated into a nice form and presented and the task is a very onerous one and when started the flow must be continuous.It may take many many months to cover just like a megha serial and the dedication of the persons presenting the verse and the meaning in an appreciable way and in a lucid style so that there shuld be no confusion and arguments and discussions can be limited to a great extent. I on my part can extent my co operation to the best of my ability and make your wish a success for the benefit of everso many devotees who actually speaking a very great percentage would hv heard abt Gita but hv no idea what the Lord says as Gita is a form of enunciation of way of life,dealing with what is a dharma n what is adharma,what is absolute devotion,duty,dedication, how one has to act under a certain circumstance,what are the different types of devotees and non devotees,what are the various yogas for attaining liberation and so many other factors.It is also said that what is in Gita cant be found anywhere.As Gita contains explanations for all situations. Of course I need not go in detail now as you must hv sufficient knowledge abt the matter and I only suggested that the presentation part shuld be in such a way that those who hv access to the matter shuld show more and more interest in the subject.If that can be fulfilled then it would be a great success and a wonderful service of the contributors to make devotees who hv only vague idea abt the varios chapters and slokas and the meaning they import. Anyway it is a fantastic idea and I do hope more people will join in this Yagna for the benefit of all as Lord says both believers and non believers are my devotees and I dont find any difference among them. so go ahead in the project which will be long and of course you will hv enough support even if there may or may not be much adulation initially as time goes by I am sure more and more people will join in this Maha Yagna out of interest and curiosity.I hope Vinod will also lend his helping hand and other devotees will join when once the idea is floated and materialised.The selection of Vishu day is an ideal one.I do hope more people will join in this Group to inculcate more spirit in others.I am sure the Lord will be pleased in such a venture.Organising mails and other parts I dont hv any suggestion at present. Hare Krishna,Guruvayoorappa. agraman Veena Nair <vee_1807 wrote: Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our database for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 6, 2005 Report Share Posted April 6, 2005 dear shri ganapathy raman, a sincere attempt to understand and apply the words of the lord is laudable. it is a great purifying force and will take us closer to him. i am all for it. no controversy. no misgivings. all acharyas adi sankara, ramanuja, madhwa, nimbarka, vallabha, caitanya, jayadev, sri jiva, meera, baladev, madhusudana, bhogendra, tulasidas, sadasiva brahmendral, bhogendra, srila prabhupada - every one has encouraged us to study the gita and chant the names of the lord. they differ on tattva but not on these two points. this is taught by lord siva, narada, suka, valmiki, vyasa etc. also. so it is a good effort. please start. some times people may not write because of other commitments. that should not discourage. once it is started more will join if the points made produce spiritual upliftment. Messenger Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 7, 2005 Report Share Posted April 7, 2005 !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Dear Lord Krishna & his devotees, After reading a big brainstorming, I wish to add some comments. I was keeping quiet on this becoz I was expecting a more no. of devotees to share this task. Thank you Shri A G Raman & Shri Rajaram for a descriptive interpretation. Let me disclose that now I am more interested towards starting this GITA Mahayagna. GITA is infinite in the 18 chapters ....... each of its chapters & its respective shlokas reveal a new meaning to each one of us everytime we read. It is nearly impossible to understand the full depth & purport of GITA. But being born in Kali age, we are blessed with many recommendable bhashyams on GITA (as quoted in earlier mails) & that definitely gives us a platform to compare them & draw the best essence based on our priorities. Let us not drive this as a prestige issue against any of our great acharyas but we should invest some time in trying to understand what they have to say to us, keeping GITA & Krishna as saakshi. The work is Himalayan, but let us not forget that Krishna is always there to fall upon. Becoz of the extreme bandwidth of this supreme text, we surely need to curtail the topics which are highly relevant to us especially in the kali-age. I hope you all will support me on this point. To add color to our explanations on Gita verses we are free to quote instances from Bhagavattam, Ramayanam, Puranas etc. where the same Lord can be seen as doing what he is speaking off, in GITA. This will help us simplify our concepts & retain a better understanding. Dear all, I wish that it's high time now when we should start to lay a foundation of our till discussed views & plans. Next thursday, it's VISHU & let's pray to " Krishna " if he can offer us GITA as this year's Vishu Kaineettam which will remain with us for long. Thanks. Hare Krishna .... Hare Rama ...... GANAPATHY RAMAN [agraman62] Wednesday, April 06, 2005 2:41 PM guruvayur Re: [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] RE: Geeta Dear Rajaram, I appreciate the sentiments expressed by you and in some way you are correct.But I wish to stress here I presume the suggestions made by Veena and VINOD is only to explain the verses of Gita and their importation.It is not meant to replace Vedas,Upanishads etc.People hear and quote Gita but actually they dont know any of the verses I mean a gud percentage and their meanings and how they shuld be guided by the tatwas Gita enunciate.It is not going to be something like some mantropadesha for which a Guru is essential but to elucidate what Gita says in the different chapters or rather what Lord Krishna explains the doubts raised by Arjuna for the everso many doubts he was having.Of course Great people like Sankara,Madhva,Ramanuja and others hv written bashyams on Bhagavat Gita which only scholars can understand.So the idea behind this suggestion is to put the meaning in an appreciable way with quotes if any for everybody to understand. Even Sage Vyasa wrote GITA SUGITA KARTHAVYA KIMANYAI: SASTRASANGRAHAI: YA SWAYAM PADHMANABHASYA MUGHAPADMATHVINISRUTHA He means that the Gita came from the Lotus face of Padhmanabha and to learn,hear,study well will suffice and there is no necessity to study any sastras.So in fact Gita contains all the essence of vedas and sastras.All wont be fortunate to learn those things which could be studied under an astute person whi has mastered those things.So the idea of telling the meaning of the verses contained in the Gita for everybodys sake.I am not a scholar and dont know much abt Vedas and sastras and also dont know the meaning of verses of Gita and the portrayal of the same in this forum will help people like me to grasp what exactly Gita contains and what the Lord has enunciated in His teachings so that people like me can try to emulate to the best of our ability.Books published by Gita Press,Gorakpur and Swami Chinmayanandas everso many books on Gita would be sufficient to get a gud knowledge.Of course more may be added to convenience. Lord Krishna also says: GITASREYAHAM DHISHTAMI GITA MAY SHOTHAMAM GRAHAM GITAJNANAMUPASHRYTHYA THREENLOKAN BALAYAMYAHAM. the above is from Varaha Purana meaning that the Lord lives by Gita.My best dwelling is Gita.It is thru the Gyanam that is bestowed by Gita I protect all the worlds.I think this may be my answer for yr parambara when the whole thing comes from the Lord where is the other parambara? Hence dear Rajaram I dont want to make any controversy on this and yr idea of having a Guru is not practicable.Sometimes one must be pragmatic in his approach.From where one will find an adept Guru?Can all the devotees go to such people to get clarifications ?.where r they?Gandhiji,Nehru,Arabinda Ghosh,Vinobaji,Rajaji and everso many luminouries hv studied Gita and some of them made it a practice to recite everyday.But as far as I know none of them had any Guru except Lord Krishna.the Greatest of all Gurus.Such be the case why you want to embark on a Gurukulam idea which is well nigh impossible as you know.So the best way for interaction is thru some portals like this where views can be exchanged.If you and I go in search of some Guru can we hv any connection unless this forum has come. I express my view from a practical angle.I am not disputing what you hv said that may be yr view.I wonder why the people who suggested this topic VEENA n VINOD hv not expressed any opinion apart from some suggestions and why there is a dearth of persons to exchange views.Is it coz of non attachment or non interest in the subject.I AM GIVING MY OWN OPINION AND I dont expect all to accept the same as everbody has his/her own views on any subject. Anyway I am happy that I hv been able to learn something from yr mail.Knowledge develops only thru such exchanges.Best wishes. Hare Krishna. agraman Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: Dear Sri Ganapathu Raman - I am not offended by what you have said. So feel free to make your points as we belong to one family of devotees of lord krishna. But I am verily on the same subject that Veena & you are talking about. As you pointed out, " So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance. " My point was about which authors to choose from one of the 1000 odd interpretations. I favoured choosing the acharyas representing a tradition for the following reasons : 1) BG was instructed to Arjuna by Lord Krishna after Arjuna said " sishyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam " in BG 2.7. That is " I am your surrendered disciple " . And in BG 4.2, the lord says that this knowledge was received through parampara - " evam parampara praptam " . So it seems to me that to appreciate Gitopanishad one has to go through guru mukham. Please correct me if you think my understanding is wrong with appropriate pramana. 2) Gita has to be seen in the context of the whole vedic literature as it is the essence of the teachings of the upanishads. It may be misleading to read the works of people who dont have proper training in sruti, smrti and puranas. To clarify that this is what Krishna means here, one should have realized Krishna or represent an acharya who has realized God. I think mere knowledge of sanskrit or worldly wisdom would be insufficient to interpret the Gita. That is why I recommend choosing the works of the acharyas over common people. If there are people representing different traditions on this group, the discussion would lead to better understanding of vedanta. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Rajaram, Actually speaking I dont know whether you are off the tangent.Now we are not concerned with the various siddhanthas like Advaita,Dwaita,Vishitadvaita etc.Each acharya had his own method to reach and teach his philosophy.But as far as I know none of them has disputed Bhagavat Gita.Even Adi Sankara the doyen of advaita has written abt Gita and so too many others.So there need be no confusion on that point.Here what Veena proposed is to impart the commonly read Bhagavat Gita where Lord Krishna teaches the various aspects of life.Of course what I meant by intrepretations is that there is a cluster of books on Gita and lot of authors have given their versions on the various chapter verses.So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance.That is of course a herculian task and requires some master bra! in.We need not require any Guru for studying Gita and a Guru is essential to study Vedas,Upanishads etc.I dont know whether there is some confusion in your mind.What you hv quoted has nothing to do with Gita which is acclaimed as a Great master piece and also translated into many languages I understand.So instead of embarking on other things let us confine ourselves only to the subject of Gita.I am sorry if you feel offended as that is not my intention but I hv a doubt whether you hv not properly understood abt the discussion that Veena mooted.Hare Krishna.Your point we will discuss later. Regards, agraman Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: As Sri Ganapathy Raman put it, it is a very onerous task to compile & discuss all the different interpretations. There are over 1000 editions of the gita each differing from one another in their interpretation. The following authors are considered to be realized acharyas representing a tradition. To be able to hear and discuss their words itself is a great fortune but the danger one may also get confused as to whose interpretation is absolute if he learns every thing. Best is to learn from a guru coming from a tradition if one is fortunate. 1) Sankara - Advaita 2) Ramanuja - Visishtadvaita 3) Madhwa - Dwaita 4) Srila Prabhupada, Visvanath Cakravarthy Thakura, Baladev Vidyabhushana - Achintya Bheda Abheda 5) Madhusudana - Advaita but is interesting because he considers Krishna to be the supreme lord and other influences of achintya bheda abheda tradition of caitanya. He also interprets every word. 6) Sridhara Swami - Kevala Advaita. He is also said to be showing the influence of caitanya's tradition. 7) Vallabhacharya - Suddha Advaita. He considers Vatsalya rasa ( or parental transcendental affection towards the lord ) to be the greatest. Caitanya and his followers consider Madhurya rasa to be the greatest. I dont know if there are commentaries based on bheda abheda of bhaskara and dwaita advaita still extant & practised by living tradition. Please correct me if I have said any thing wrong. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Veena, Your idea is laudable but as you may know the intrepretation of Gita containing 18 chapters n a thousand slokas is not such an easy job.I am not discouraging but an astute study of every sloka and the meaning which can be intrepreted by various devotees in their own way and there r umpteen number of books on this subject each quoting different thing in their own way.So the presentation of each sloka shuld be done in a methodical way which invite least comments from the devotees as each may follow different books written by different authors and with different ideas.So all these must be assimilated into a nice form and presented and the task is a very onerous one and when started the flow must be continuous.It may take many many months to cover just like a megha serial and the dedication of the persons presenting the verse and the meaning in an appreciable way and in a lucid style so that there shuld be no confusion and arguments and discussions can be limited to a great exte! nt. I on my part can extent my co operation to the best of my ability and make your wish a success for the benefit of everso many devotees who actually speaking a very great percentage would hv heard abt Gita but hv no idea what the Lord says as Gita is a form of enunciation of way of life,dealing with what is a dharma n what is adharma,what is absolute devotion,duty,dedication, how one has to act under a certain circumstance,what are the different types of devotees and non devotees,what are the various yogas for attaining liberation and so many other factors.It is also said that what is in Gita cant be found anywhere.As Gita contains explanations for all situations. Of course I need not go in detail now as you must hv sufficient knowledge abt the matter and I only suggested that the presentation part shuld be in such a way that those who hv access to the matter shuld show more and more interest in the subject.If that can be fulfilled then it would be a great success and a wonderful service of the contributors to make devotees who hv only vague idea abt the varios chapters and slokas and the meaning they import. Anyway it is a fantastic idea and I do hope more people will join in this Yagna for the benefit of all as Lord says both believers and non believers are my devotees and I dont find any difference among them. so go ahead in the project which will be long and of course you will hv enough support even if there may or may not be much adulation initially as time goes by I am sure more and more people will join in this Maha Yagna out of interest and curiosity.I hope Vinod will also lend his helping hand and other devotees will join when once the idea is floated and materialised.The selection of Vishu day is an ideal one.I do hope more people will join in this Group to inculcate more spirit in others.I am sure the Lord will be pleased in such a venture.Organising mails and other parts I dont hv any suggestion at present. Hare Krishna,Guruvayoorappa. agraman Veena Nair <vee_1807 wrote: Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our da! tabase for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! ! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 7, 2005 Report Share Posted April 7, 2005 Yes Vinod, I am happy at last you hv decided to commence the Mahayagna of Gita from Vishu and I am sure by the Grace of Lord Krishna all will go smoothly.Many people will join in course and the yagna will be a nice breeding ground for gud guidance to all.Gita does not belong to one particular sect or religion.It is applicable to all the human beings.God never distinguishes a devotee on the basis of his caste,community,religion like Sun which sheds its light to all things God is all pervading and all can be benefitted from the GITA as it is a Universal concept.of the way the human beings shuld guide their lives.It clears the doubts that arises in the mind of every individual on day to day life.Lord of Universe thru His teachings guide the human beings to live a life of worthiness. Anayasena maranam vina dainyena jivanam Dehi me kripaya Krishna tvayi baktimachanchalam ( A life wothout hardships and an end that is peaceful.That is all I ask of you Krishna and unswerving devotion for you.) There can be some initial hiccups in this great journey but I do hope that by the Grace of the Lord all hardships will be overcome and the mission will become successful.Sanjaya one of the key characters in Mahabharata says: YATHRA YOGESWARA KRISHNO YATHRA PARTHO DHANURDHARA: THATHRA SRIRVIJAYO BHUTHYRDHRUVA NEETHIRMATHIRMAMA Where Mahayogi Krishna and kandeepa arjuna reside there stay Mahalakshmy,success,prosperity,dharma and justice. By contemplating on this I pray let this Maha Yagna be a grand gala affair enabling the devotees to get themselves attracted more n more by the Greatest of Yogis LORD KRISHNA. for getting rid of their mental aberrations and a blending of peaceful and harmonious life and eventual salvation.I wish all the devotees of Lord join in this task thanks to the great effort put by Veena and Vinod the harbingers of this megha topic to be portrayed in the forum for the benefit of all devotees. Hare Krishna,Om Namo Narayanaya. agraman " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Dear Lord Krishna & his devotees, After reading a big brainstorming, I wish to add some comments. I was keeping quiet on this becoz I was expecting a more no. of devotees to share this task. Thank you Shri A G Raman & Shri Rajaram for a descriptive interpretation. Let me disclose that now I am more interested towards starting this GITA Mahayagna. GITA is infinite in the 18 chapters ....... each of its chapters & its respective shlokas reveal a new meaning to each one of us everytime we read. It is nearly impossible to understand the full depth & purport of GITA. But being born in Kali age, we are blessed with many recommendable bhashyams on GITA (as quoted in earlier mails) & that definitely gives us a platform to compare them & draw the best essence based on our priorities. Let us not drive this as a prestige issue against any of our great acharyas but we should invest some time in trying to understand what they have to say to us, keeping GITA & Krishna as saakshi. The work is Himalayan, but let us not forget that Krishna is always there to fall upon. Becoz of the extreme bandwidth of this supreme text, we surely need to curtail the topics which are highly relevant to us especially in the kali-age. I hope you all will support me on this point. To add color to our explanations on Gita verses we are free to quote instances from Bhagavattam, Ramayanam, Puranas etc. where the same Lord can be seen as doing what he is speaking off, in GITA. This will help us simplify our concepts & retain a better understanding. Dear all, I wish that it's high time now when we should start to lay a foundation of our till discussed views & plans. Next thursday, it's VISHU & let's pray to " Krishna " if he can offer us GITA as this year's Vishu Kaineettam which will remain with us for long. Thanks. Hare Krishna .... Hare Rama ...... GANAPATHY RAMAN [agraman62] Wednesday, April 06, 2005 2:41 PM guruvayur Re: [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] RE: Geeta Dear Rajaram, I appreciate the sentiments expressed by you and in some way you are correct.But I wish to stress here I presume the suggestions made by Veena and VINOD is only to explain the verses of Gita and their importation.It is not meant to replace Vedas,Upanishads etc.People hear and quote Gita but actually they dont know any of the verses I mean a gud percentage and their meanings and how they shuld be guided by the tatwas Gita enunciate.It is not going to be something like some mantropadesha for which a Guru is essential but to elucidate what Gita says in the different chapters or rather what Lord Krishna explains the doubts raised by Arjuna for the everso many doubts he was having.Of course Great people like Sankara,Madhva,Ramanuja and others hv written bashyams on Bhagavat Gita which only scholars can understand.So the idea behind this suggestion is to put the meaning in an appreciable way with quotes if any for everybody to understand. Even Sage Vyasa wrote GITA SUGITA KARTHAVYA KIMANYAI: SASTRASANGRAHAI: YA SWAYAM PADHMANABHASYA MUGHAPADMATHVINISRUTHA He means that the Gita came from the Lotus face of Padhmanabha and to learn,hear,study well will suffice and there is no necessity to study any sastras.So in fact Gita contains all the essence of vedas and sastras.All wont be fortunate to learn those things which could be studied under an astute person whi has mastered those things.So the idea of telling the meaning of the verses contained in the Gita for everybodys sake.I am not a scholar and dont know much abt Vedas and sastras and also dont know the meaning of verses of Gita and the portrayal of the same in this forum will help people like me to grasp what exactly Gita contains and what the Lord has enunciated in His teachings so that people like me can try to emulate to the best of our ability.Books published by Gita Press,Gorakpur and Swami Chinmayanandas everso many books on Gita would be sufficient to get a gud knowledge.Of course more may be added to convenience. Lord Krishna also says: GITASREYAHAM DHISHTAMI GITA MAY SHOTHAMAM GRAHAM GITAJNANAMUPASHRYTHYA THREENLOKAN BALAYAMYAHAM. the above is from Varaha Purana meaning that the Lord lives by Gita.My best dwelling is Gita.It is thru the Gyanam that is bestowed by Gita I protect all the worlds.I think this may be my answer for yr parambara when the whole thing comes from the Lord where is the other parambara? Hence dear Rajaram I dont want to make any controversy on this and yr idea of having a Guru is not practicable.Sometimes one must be pragmatic in his approach.From where one will find an adept Guru?Can all the devotees go to such people to get clarifications ?.where r they?Gandhiji,Nehru,Arabinda Ghosh,Vinobaji,Rajaji and everso many luminouries hv studied Gita and some of them made it a practice to recite everyday.But as far as I know none of them had any Guru except Lord Krishna.the Greatest of all Gurus.Such be the case why you want to embark on a Gurukulam idea which is well nigh impossible as you know.So the best way for interaction is thru some portals like this where views can be exchanged.If you and I go in search of some Guru can we hv any connection unless this forum has come. I express my view from a practical angle.I am not disputing what you hv said that may be yr view.I wonder why the people who suggested this topic VEENA n VINOD hv not expressed any opinion apart from some suggestions and why there is a dearth of persons to exchange views.Is it coz of non attachment or non interest in the subject.I AM GIVING MY OWN OPINION AND I dont expect all to accept the same as everbody has his/her own views on any subject. Anyway I am happy that I hv been able to learn something from yr mail.Knowledge develops only thru such exchanges.Best wishes. Hare Krishna. agraman Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: Dear Sri Ganapathu Raman - I am not offended by what you have said. So feel free to make your points as we belong to one family of devotees of lord krishna. But I am verily on the same subject that Veena & you are talking about. As you pointed out, " So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance. " My point was about which authors to choose from one of the 1000 odd interpretations. I favoured choosing the acharyas representing a tradition for the following reasons : 1) BG was instructed to Arjuna by Lord Krishna after Arjuna said " sishyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam " in BG 2.7. That is " I am your surrendered disciple " . And in BG 4.2, the lord says that this knowledge was received through parampara - " evam parampara praptam " . So it seems to me that to appreciate Gitopanishad one has to go through guru mukham. Please correct me if you think my understanding is wrong with appropriate pramana. 2) Gita has to be seen in the context of the whole vedic literature as it is the essence of the teachings of the upanishads. It may be misleading to read the works of people who dont have proper training in sruti, smrti and puranas. To clarify that this is what Krishna means here, one should have realized Krishna or represent an acharya who has realized God. I think mere knowledge of sanskrit or worldly wisdom would be insufficient to interpret the Gita. That is why I recommend choosing the works of the acharyas over common people. If there are people representing different traditions on this group, the discussion would lead to better understanding of vedanta. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Rajaram, Actually speaking I dont know whether you are off the tangent.Now we are not concerned with the various siddhanthas like Advaita,Dwaita,Vishitadvaita etc.Each acharya had his own method to reach and teach his philosophy.But as far as I know none of them has disputed Bhagavat Gita.Even Adi Sankara the doyen of advaita has written abt Gita and so too many others.So there need be no confusion on that point.Here what Veena proposed is to impart the commonly read Bhagavat Gita where Lord Krishna teaches the various aspects of life.Of course what I meant by intrepretations is that there is a cluster of books on Gita and lot of authors have given their versions on the various chapter verses.So it would be a gud idea to select some books of famous authors and what they say abt the verses in every chapter and put them in a simple way so that all can read and benefit.The best intrepretation may be taken for guidance.That is of course a herculian task and requires some master bra! in.We need not require any Guru for studying Gita and a Guru is essential to study Vedas,Upanishads etc.I dont know whether there is some confusion in your mind.What you hv quoted has nothing to do with Gita which is acclaimed as a Great master piece and also translated into many languages I understand.So instead of embarking on other things let us confine ourselves only to the subject of Gita.I am sorry if you feel offended as that is not my intention but I hv a doubt whether you hv not properly understood abt the discussion that Veena mooted.Hare Krishna.Your point we will discuss later. Regards, agraman Rajaram Venkataramani <v_raja_ram wrote: As Sri Ganapathy Raman put it, it is a very onerous task to compile & discuss all the different interpretations. There are over 1000 editions of the gita each differing from one another in their interpretation. The following authors are considered to be realized acharyas representing a tradition. To be able to hear and discuss their words itself is a great fortune but the danger one may also get confused as to whose interpretation is absolute if he learns every thing. Best is to learn from a guru coming from a tradition if one is fortunate. 1) Sankara - Advaita 2) Ramanuja - Visishtadvaita 3) Madhwa - Dwaita 4) Srila Prabhupada, Visvanath Cakravarthy Thakura, Baladev Vidyabhushana - Achintya Bheda Abheda 5) Madhusudana - Advaita but is interesting because he considers Krishna to be the supreme lord and other influences of achintya bheda abheda tradition of caitanya. He also interprets every word. 6) Sridhara Swami - Kevala Advaita. He is also said to be showing the influence of caitanya's tradition. 7) Vallabhacharya - Suddha Advaita. He considers Vatsalya rasa ( or parental transcendental affection towards the lord ) to be the greatest. Caitanya and his followers consider Madhurya rasa to be the greatest. I dont know if there are commentaries based on bheda abheda of bhaskara and dwaita advaita still extant & practised by living tradition. Please correct me if I have said any thing wrong. Best Regards Rajaram V. GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote: Dear Veena, Your idea is laudable but as you may know the intrepretation of Gita containing 18 chapters n a thousand slokas is not such an easy job.I am not discouraging but an astute study of every sloka and the meaning which can be intrepreted by various devotees in their own way and there r umpteen number of books on this subject each quoting different thing in their own way.So the presentation of each sloka shuld be done in a methodical way which invite least comments from the devotees as each may follow different books written by different authors and with different ideas.So all these must be assimilated into a nice form and presented and the task is a very onerous one and when started the flow must be continuous.It may take many many months to cover just like a megha serial and the dedication of the persons presenting the verse and the meaning in an appreciable way and in a lucid style so that there shuld be no confusion and arguments and discussions can be limited to a great exte! nt. I on my part can extent my co operation to the best of my ability and make your wish a success for the benefit of everso many devotees who actually speaking a very great percentage would hv heard abt Gita but hv no idea what the Lord says as Gita is a form of enunciation of way of life,dealing with what is a dharma n what is adharma,what is absolute devotion,duty,dedication, how one has to act under a certain circumstance,what are the different types of devotees and non devotees,what are the various yogas for attaining liberation and so many other factors.It is also said that what is in Gita cant be found anywhere.As Gita contains explanations for all situations. Of course I need not go in detail now as you must hv sufficient knowledge abt the matter and I only suggested that the presentation part shuld be in such a way that those who hv access to the matter shuld show more and more interest in the subject.If that can be fulfilled then it would be a great success and a wonderful service of the contributors to make devotees who hv only vague idea abt the varios chapters and slokas and the meaning they import. Anyway it is a fantastic idea and I do hope more people will join in this Yagna for the benefit of all as Lord says both believers and non believers are my devotees and I dont find any difference among them. so go ahead in the project which will be long and of course you will hv enough support even if there may or may not be much adulation initially as time goes by I am sure more and more people will join in this Maha Yagna out of interest and curiosity.I hope Vinod will also lend his helping hand and other devotees will join when once the idea is floated and materialised.The selection of Vishu day is an ideal one.I do hope more people will join in this Group to inculcate more spirit in others.I am sure the Lord will be pleased in such a venture.Organising mails and other parts I dont hv any suggestion at present. Hare Krishna,Guruvayoorappa. agraman Veena Nair <vee_1807 wrote: Om Namo Narayanaya! It is very encouraging to see your mail Vinod. I too was hoping that we could get started around Vishu, so that is good! You raise very good points about organizing the mails; I hope Sunil can help us with organizing the mails timewise and just putting them in a single folder every week, so that if some one has missed a mail or not had time to read, he/she can go back to that folder and catch up. I am still hoping more members will respond. Ideally if we have 9 people on this, each of us can take responsibility for 2 chapters; otherwise we can just decide on the most important chapters we want discussed and go with that. Post 2 slokas every Monday or if we are starting on Vishu day, it is a Thursday. So we can have 2 slokas every Thursday or every other Thursday? and spent the time between to discuss or address any points. Om Namo Narayanaya! --\ -- " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Veena - Let me tell you that " Krishna " has opted you to initiate this sacred proposal of divinity. I am very much eager to express my welcome this great-great idea. As I have heard from the leading acharyas - " Bhagavattam " is the soul of Krishna & " Gita " is his mind ..... But understanding GITA being a very responsible & serious job, extreme attention & involvement of each one of us is always expected. Hence, interested devotees to share this pious task must come forward & brief out there plans to frame this work in a proper going. Let me express my interest to this job at first. Veena, I agree with you on the point that one needs to understand the full depth of each shloka that our Lord stated in GITA & hence, prioritising shlokas & concerned chapters is also very important. Hence, a period of 2 weeks (as I feel) must cover the entire essence of 2 or 3 selected shlokas. Let us not keep the discussion restricted to one day....but keep it moving every day. Becoz, we will be sending our purports on each shlokas, the subject tile should speak the " Chapter number & the shloka number " in every message. Moreover, to retain the continuity of discussion, the sorting of mails timewise is another IMP job. Thirdly, one should take the responsibility of combining these messages on the same shloka into one message & refloat it across the group at the end of each day. This will help all of us to keep the track of flow & understanding. Once, the entire discussion on a shloka gets completed, it should be documented as one file in our da! tabase for easy access & a review, if required. Wish to hear more on this. Through a sincere planning, hopefully by VISHU time we all can start with this. Hare Krishna.... Hare Rama.... Veena Nair [vee_1807] Friday, April 01, 2005 1:02 AM guruvayur [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Re:Krishna Bhagavan group !! Yes I did get this email abt the Krishna Bhagavan grp while ago and deleted it! I wanted to ask the group if it would be possible for us to start a weekly posting of slokas from the Geeta? Members who regulary post to this group could volunteer to post 2 or 3 slokas from the Gita once a week (we could fix a day) and then the next few days whoever wanted to post queries or further interpretations or explanations for those slokas could do that. We could post the Sankrit version of the sloka alongwith the English version so that most members wd have no problem reading it. But we do need conscientious members who would take responsibility for a certain chapter, post all the slokas, however many weeks that takes, and then the next volunteer could start the next chapter and so on. So say every Monday we cd post the 2/3 slokas with their literal meaning, as given in the text we are referring to, and then a brief summary of the explanation in our own words. In the subsequent days, if other members want to add to it they cd do that. Then next Monday the next 2/3! ! and so on. What does everyone say? if you think it is a do-able idea, then pl send out an email about which chapters you would like to do, a preferred day that you want to do this and number of slokas per day (once a week). I hope lot of people will respond. Om Namo Narayanaya!! " PS, Vinod K (GE Energy) " <vinod.ps wrote: !! Sri Rama Jayam !! Today evening, I have received one mail from " Krishna Bhagavan " group ( - <rx_rajeev rx_rajeev) inviting my membership. I am really surprised to see this especially when I saw --- " This invitation expires in 7 days (??) " ......and, " Free kerala based Sri Krishna forum to solve all your problems (??)... " This appeared to me more as a business advertisement. I am very unhappy to see " Krishna " projected this way. Please let me know, if any of you have received a similar thing. Your suggestions are very important in this respect. Thanks. Hare Krishna ...... Hare Rama ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.