Introduction – What are
Hindu Scriptures?
The Hindu religion has number of scriptures,
maybe more than any other religions. These scriptures are divided into two
broad categories called Sruti and Smriti:-
(1)
Sruti comprised of the four Vedas such
as Rig, Sama, Yajur, Atharva. Each of
the Veda has four parts like Mantras,
Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and 108 Upanishads.[1]
(2) Smriti consisted of all scriptures other
than the Vedas. But few of them are part of common heritage of Hinduism such as,
notably the two epics called Ramayana
and Mahabharata,[2]
and the 18 Puranas.[3]
What is the Bhagavad Gita?
The Bhagavad Gita literally means the Lord’s Song. It is a part of the Mahabharata and is the best known book
of the Hindu Scripture.[4] It
is more a religious classic than a philosophical treatise, said to contain the
essence of Hindu philosophy. It has played a vital role in the revival of Hinduism
in Modern India.[5]
The
Bhagavad Gita is a sermon which Krishna delivers to Arjuna on the eve of the battle which is the climax of the Mahabharata. But it might not be as the
original from because there is textual evidence for the process of insertion.
It may also be originated as a separate composition because it presupposes the
epic setting and contains a reasonably full description of Arjuna’s dilemma.[6]
The whole text maybe considered as a long dialogue sermon[7] in
which Krishna delivers to Arjuna on the eve of the battle which is
the climax of the Mahabharata.[8]
Date and authorship
The Gita
was probably written in about 2nd century BC. E. Lamotte concludes
that the Gita is one work, the fruit
of single dating probably from the 2nd to the 3rd of our
era.[9] It
is commonly assigned to about the 2nd century BC and it is certainly
no older than that.[10]
The
author of the Gita is unknown, but
attributed to Vyasa, the compiler of Mahabharata.[11] Who
can record a private conversation between Krishna
and Arjuna in the battle field? A
high credit in this regard is given to this sage- Vyasa. He was a talented sage endowed with unique intuitive
knowledge and spiritual potentiality. He was regarded as the one who recorded
the divine message.[12] However,
according to some scholars, there still remains the question whether the poem
is the work of one author of the common product of different contributors.[13]
Structure of
the Bhagavad
Gita
The Bhagavad
Gita is a self contained episode of 700 verses embedded in one book.[14]
It has 18 chapters. All the 18 chapters are designated as type of yoga that is
to train the body and mind. These 18 yogas contained in the 18 chapters maybe
reduced to 4 such as Karma Yoga, Raja
Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga.
Tradition holds that the spiritual life begins with Karma Yoga and goes on evolving into the other three respectively
that the sequence of the chapters bears testimony. It is true that the
development of the subject in a chapter leads to the theme of the next. But
that doesn’t mean that one system of yoga is anterior to another. All the four
yogas together stimulate life with spirituality.[15]
The chapter divisions of the Bhagavad Gita with their titles are as
the following[16]:-
Chapter I The
despondency of Arjuna
Chapter II The
yoga of knowledge
Chapter III The
yoga of action
Chapter IV The
yoga of renunciation of action in knowledge
Chapter V Sanyasa yoga
Chapter VI The
yoga of meditation
Chapter VII The
yoga of knowledge and realization
Chapter VIII The
yoga of the imperishable Brahman
Chapter IX The
yoga of sovereign science and sovereign secret
Chapter X The
yoga of divine manifestations
Chapter XI The
yoga of the vision of the cosmic form
Chapter XII The
yoga of devotion
Chapter XIII The
yoga of the discrimination of the Kshetra
and the Kshetrajna
Chapter XIV The
yoga of the division of the three Gunas
Chapter XV The
yoga of supreme self
Chapter XVI The
yoga of the division between the divine and the demoniacal
Chapter XVII The
yoga of the threefold Sraddha
Chapter XVIII The yoga of liberation by renunciation
Main contents and
teachings of the Bhagavad Gita
On the eve of the great battle, Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers
is beset with doubts. How can he wage war against his own people, even though
the cause is just? On the battle-field the god Krishna expounds to him the moral and philosophical implications of
human action.[17]
Arjuna is in dilemma that he and his
brothers are about to fight their cousins, the Kauravas on the issue of ancestral kingdom. Then, Arjuna gives vent to his despondency and
declaring that he will not fight. The rest of the Gita is Krishna’s
demonstration to Arjuna the
limitations of his view and stresses the need to fulfill one’s dharma. As a Kshatriya, Arjuna’s dharma is to fight, but he argued
because he considered participation in a battle for worldly gain is wrong and
thought that it will be better to withdraw from such struggle.[18]
Krishna
attempts in a number of ways to lead Arjuna
from perplexity to understanding and correct action.[19] Krishna responds by showing to Arjuna a new way of looking at the
problems, a new perspective that makes Arjuna’s
renunciation of duty unnecessary and undesirable.[20]
The way of bhakti or devotion is developed only gradually as Arjuna becomes aware of Krishna’s divine status. Krishna begins his instruction by
teaching Arjuna jnana yoga
(discipline of knowledge) and karma yoga
(discipline of action) to correct Arjuna’s
initial confusion. Krishna argues
that there is no cause to grieve for one’s own death or for the death of others
because it is only body which dies, not the self, which is free from all
change. Arjuna’s fears of death
resulting from battle are misplaced. The self can neither kill nor be killed;
therefore Krishna concludes that Arjuna should fight without fear or
mourning.[21]
This is Krishna’s response to Arjuna’s initial despondency, and serves
as an introduction to the second approach, karma
yoga. Here the fundamental problem of dharma
is faced directly. Krishna begins
with an attack on those who perform Vedic
rituals for the attainment of enjoyment or power, seeking merit and reward as
the fruit of their action. The fruits of actions can only be within samsara. So, pursuits of these fruits
must lead to continuing rebirth. The solution to the problem of dharma lies in the spirit in which
action is undertaken. Krishna provides
a new aspect to the understanding of karma
and meets the problem in a simple yet convincing manner, by stressing the
motivation involved. What is necessary is to abandon all desire for the outcome
of one’s actions. This is an argument against desires and attachments, and also
an arrangement against inactivity, or attempted inactivity.[22]
The Gita
does not at first directly advocate bhakti
as a replacement for more traditional religious forms. It approach is
instead more subtle, first giving the traditional teachings and then showing
how the same goal can be reached by devotion. Thus, bhakti directed to Krishna becomes
the highest form of yoga and the key to samnyasa.
It is the same with knowledge, which is highly praised in the Gita.[23]
It teaches human to do their duty, their dharma,
whatever that dharma maybe, and
whatever consequences it may have. The basic teaching of the Gita centres on the need for selfless
action. Such action should take place, it tells us, as part of our unfailing
devotion to God.[24]
Thus,
it is possible to seen form the above explication that the Bhagavad Gita contains the highest experience of Hindusim on the
nature of human being and his/her place in the world. Dharma that is conducive to human’s growth and progress. The
metaphysical idealism of the Gita is
mainly theistic in nature, providing room for love, faith, sacrifice,
non-violence, truthfulness, forgiveness, self-control, steadfastness,
straightforwardness, absence of pride, freedom from hypocrisy, purity of mind
and body, absence of attachment and actions without attachment.[25]
Some concepts of Bhagavad Gita[26]
The
concept Ultimate reality- In the metaphysics of the Gita, God is the Supreme-Self or the Ultimate Reality. It teaches
that Krishna is identified with the
Supreme Lord, the unity that lies behind the manifold universe, the changeless
truth behind all appearances, transcendent over all and immanent in all. He is
the manifested lord, making it easy for the mortals to know that Brahman is
reaches through him.
The concept of avatar- God is looked upon as the savior of human beings; he must
manifest himself, whenever the evil forces threaten to destroy human values. An
avatar is a descent of God into human
form and not an ascent of man into God, which is the case with the liberated
soul. Of all
the
incarnations of Vishnu, Krishna is the most popular.
Concept of the world- According to the Gita, the whole universe springs from
the ultimate reality, lives in it and is ultimately dissolved in it.
Critical appraisal of
the Bhagavad Gita
The
Bhagavad Gita is the most sacred text
of the Hindu religion. It is the archetype of that necessarily modern
phenomenon, the classic of world spirituality. It has assumed for a number of
Hindus a universal status. It is regarded not only as the quintessential Hindu
religious text, but also as a charter for all types of frequently contravening
social and political action. One fact of the Gita’s universality is its capacity to bear almost any shade of
interpretation, because of the variegated nature of its contents. This shows
the fact that the Gita is and always
been a live religious text, with an obviously limitless capacity to inspire new
and necessarily valid meanings, from the perspective of the custom in which
they are coined.27
In the socio-cultural aspect, the Gita provides ways and means to lead an
ideal life and guides the daily duties. It teaches the most important way of
life, the work and to dedicate all the fruits to God by complete surrender to
him. It stressed on the social nature of human being, and said that people
should seek salvation in the midst of life not in forest. But on the other
hand, it also sponsoring the four-fold divisions of Hindu society accepts it as
God ordained. Each individual was expected to do functional division as a kind
of service to the society, according to one’s own karma which will decide his/her future destiny.28
The Gita is
said to contain the essence of Hindu philosophy and it has been called the
layman’s Upanishad because it
presents the difficult teachings of the Upanishad
in a way that common people can understand.29 It has been said that many
Hindus regarded as having all answers
to the problems and worries of the people. If someone is tensed, s/he should
read the Gita and s/he will find the
answer to his question which is making him tensed and worried.30
Conclusion
The teaching of Bhagavad Gita is very much ethical and practical
in character. It is like ‘do your duty.’ It is one of the most widely used
among all Hindu sacred writings. When I visited Pushpak Hari Mandir at |huampui, the priest
told me that the Gita was placed for
reading in the altar every alternative day with Ramcharitas Manas. Today, it played a vital role in the revival of
Hinduism.
[1]
V.S. Lalrinawma, Major Faith Traditions
of India (Delhi: ISPCK, 2007), chapter iii, 54-78. Hereafter cited as V.S.
Lalrinawma, Major Faith Traditions of
India.
[2]
David A. Brown, A Guide to Religions
(Delhi: ISPCK, 2009), 64. Hereafter cited as David A. Brown, A Guide to Religions.
[3]
Rajeev Verma, Faith and Philosophy of
Hinduism (Delhi: Kalpaz Publications, 2009), 121. Hereafter cited as Rajeev
Verma, Faith and Philosophy of Hinduism.
[4]
David A. Brown, A Guide to Religions…65.
[5]
V.S. Lalrinawma, Major Faith Traditions
of India…149.
[6] P.S. Daniel, “The Hindu Religious Tradition,” in Religious Traditions of India, edited by
P.S. Daniel, David C. Scott and G.R. Singh, eds., (Delhi: ISPCK, 1988), 116. Hereafter cited as P.S. Daniel, The Hindu Religious Tradition.
[7]
David A. Brown, A Guide to Religions…65.
[8]
P.S. Daniel, The Hindu Religious
Tradition…116.
[9]
V.S. Lalrinawma, Major Faith Traditions
of India…150.
[10]
P.S. Daniel, The Hindu Religious
Tradition…116.
[11]
V.S. Lalrinawma, Major Faith Traditions
of India…149.
[12]
Swami Chidbhavananda, The Bhagavad Gita
(Tirupparaitturai: Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam, 1965), 18-19. Hereafter cited as
Swami Chidbhavananda, The Bhagavad Gita.
[13]
T.M.P. Mahadevan, Outlines of Hinduism
(Bombay: Chetana Pvt. Ltd., 1984), 110.
[14]
Rajeev Verma, Faith and Philosophy of Hinduism…106.
[15]
Swami Chidbhavananda, The Bhagavad Gita…32-34.
[16]
Swami Chidbhavananda, The Bhagavad Gita…i-iv.
[17]
David A. Brown, A Guide to Religions…65.
[18]
P.S. Daniel, The Hindu Religious
Tradition…116.
[19]
Rajeev Verma, Faith and Philosophy of
Hinduism…107.
[20]
P.S. Daniel, The Hindu Religious
Tradition…117.
[21]
P.S. Daniel, The Hindu Religious
Tradition…117-118.
[22]
P.S. Daniel, The Hindu Religious
Tradition…118.
[23]
P.S. Daniel, The Hindu Religious
Tradition…119.
[24]
David A. Brown, A Guide to Religions…65.
[25]
V.S. Lalrinawma, Major Faith Traditions
of India…149.
[26]
Based on V.S. Lalrinawma, Major Faith
Traditions of India…151.
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