The Bhagavad-Gita starts with the narration of the event in the Battlefield of Kurukshetra when the Blind King Dhrutarashtra asked his Minister Sanjaya as to what is going on in the Battlefield. In a way, the entire Mahabharata War is a fiction, a thought-wave in our own mind. Neither there is the Pandava (since they are never born in Mother’s womb in flesh, blood, and bones), nor are there a hundred Kaurava (that are mere blemishes of the greedy, jealous, egoistic, polluted mind)! Purna-prajnya Shree Krishna Paramatma depicted here stands for pure Consciousness, whereas, Arjuna is depicted as jivatma, the blemished soul with ego. When the blemished mind full of ego, gets confused as to right knowledge and right action, and seeks guidance of the pure consciousness, the Lord comes here to guide. When we find the scripture Mahabharata is dictated by Sage Vedavyasa as dictated to the Lord Ganapati, the Deity of Knowledge, one should be surprised as to how all the eighteen epics are attributed to the Sage Vedavyasa. Sage Shree Krishna Dvaipayana came to be known as Vedavyasa, a pen-name, since he classified the ‘Ekayana Veda’ consisting of 100 000 verses into four functional divisions.
About Shree Krishna appearing as Bhagavan at the end of Dwapara Yuga, it is important to note that the epics depict Him in various ways. In Bhagavata purana, Krishna is described as a child showing the entire universe in his mouth to his foster-mother Yashodha! It is said that the Eigth child born to Vasudeva-Devaki was shifted to Gokul, to Nanda. King Nanda, brother-in-law of Devaki, where he grows along with cowherds. He is beautifully described as a cowherd, Gopala, playing flute attracting damsels! As the epic story goes, King Kamsa, Krishna’s maternal uncle was enjoying the vijayotsava and heard a voice that forewarned him not to be so joyful at the marriage of his sister sine he would be killed by her son. This prompted him to kill the child born to her. It is also stated that Shree Krishna has descended to earth to protect the pious people suffering at the hands of cruel rulers. Shree Krishna is described as the King, descendant of Vrushni Clan, and actually offers his army to the Kauravas at the time of the great war of Mahabharat. Shree Krishna is depicted as the Mentor, friend, philosopher, and guide to the Pandava Kings (as their maternal uncle). In the Gita, Shree Krishna declares Himself as none other than the Supreme Lord, Purushottama. He goes on to say, “He only exists and, none besides Him. He is the self of all.”
Thus, He who manifests as the Mentor, Spiritual Guide, and as a sincere friend of the Pandava, is none other than Supreme Lord Sri Hari Narayana Himself. At the beginning of the universe He, the supreme Lord imparted this ‘Gitopadesha’ first to Vivasvat and went on imparting the same again and again since it was lost at the end of each manvantara. Now, He, the Lord, is speaking to Vivasvan at the end of the dva para yuga and is carried on into the beginning of the Kali yuga. At the beginning of the Mahabharata War, Arjuna requested his Charioteer Lord Shree Krishna to to take the chariot to the center of the Battlefield and saw the Grandsire Bhishma and all his relatives and friends. He became highly philosophical and realized the futility of the war. He became despondent and reluctant to fight the war fearing bloodshed of his kith and kin. The sermon, Gitopadesha comes here to remind Arjuna of his bounden duty as a soldier of the warrior clan (kshatriya). When it comes to duty, there should be no fear or favor is the rule.
These 700 verses of the Bhagavad-Gita appear in the middle of the great epic Mahabharata in Bhishma Parva (Canto 27 to 45) under a strange situation. Sage Vyasa Deva requested the All-knowing Deity of Basal Plexus, muladhara adhipati Ganapati to take his dictation. The Blessed Lord accepted this task under a condition that 'He would quit if the Sage becomes silent, thinking of what to say next, or pause for a long time. In fact, the Vidya Adhipati already knew everything that would be dictated! Ganapati!
Now that the Text appears as an interpolation in the epic Mahabharata, it goes to the credit of Sri Shankaracharya to take out the eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad-Gita as the path of ultimate attainment that showers elixir of immortality. It is called the shower of elixir of Non-dual (advaita amruta varshinim). Later on, it is the great saint Madhusudhana Saraswati who gave us the inner secret (esoteric/ gudhartha) meaning of the spoken words of the Lord Bhagavan Sri Krishna.
Indeed, these are the secrets imparted to Vivasvan at the beginning of creation and then to King Ikshvaku who passed it on from Manu to Manu at the beginning of each of the manvantara (imam vivasvate prathamam praaha…! (Ch. IV.1). However, it is strange that the Bhagavad-Gita comes as an interlude in the Bhishma parva of the Great epic Mahabharata! As the story goes, Sage Vyasa deva was dictating the epic Mahabharata to Lord Ganapati Who laid the condition that he would quit if Vyasa Deva wasted time searching for words, paused, or delayed the dictation! When it came to the situation Bhishma lying on the ‘Bed of Arrows’, awaiting his call to quit his mortal state, Vyasa was unable to think fast and did not know what to dictate. Suddenly he thought of the spoken words of the Lord at the beginning of Creation and thus came this beautiful song of the Lord! It is quite discernible that Lord Ganapati, the Deity of Knowledge, as well, knew well in advance what the epic would be! But it is not easy for common man to understand that ‘there is neither a Shree Krishna dvaipayana who came to be known as Vyasadeva after classifying the Ekayana Veda into four divisions of the Veda. It is impossible to believe that Shree Krishna (dvaipayana) dictating the epic, nor a scribe, the brainchild of Devi Parvati made of clay and life infused named it ‘Ganapati’ here. The epic Mahabharata is a mythological story, may be, a family history of characters woven and interwoven. In fact, Karna and the rest of the Pandava are all born due to boon given by great sages, mantrasya putrah, chanted by Kunti as a ‘Divine Mother’! One has to remember that Kunti’s husband Pandu died of a curse the very night he was married. None of these Pandava ever comes in flesh and blood here! It is all fiction full of imageries, imagination, thoughts, and ideas, may be, wild dreams of a fertile mind presented in signs and symbols! At best, it is the confused mind (as portrayed in Arjuna) seeking clarity from the pure Consciousness (Purnaprajnya Bhagavan Sri Krishna)! In fact, nobody ever scripted, wrote down (even by Lord Ganapati as dictated by Sage Vedavyasa as in Mahabharata Purana), since these are the spoken words of the Lord to Vivasvan at the beginning of the very Creation.
Fortunately, this Bhagavad-Gita has come down to us as our spiritual heritage and it is our responsibility to spread this far and wide. The new generation of scientists and technocrats can interpret these verses in any number of ways depending on their intelligence and ability to understand the Lord's spoken words!
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