BHAGAVAD-GITA

Introduction, Chapters 1-3

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HISTORY
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What is the Bhagavad-Gita?
Eternal message of spiritual
wisdom from Ancient India
Often called the song of
God
Gita - song
Bhagavad - God
Battle of Kuruksetra, 3137
BC
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Bhagavad-Gita?
It is to be found in the Mahabharata written by the Vedavyasa.
Composed of 700 Sanskrit verses contained within 18 chapters
Divided into three sections of six chapters each
Karma Yoga (yoga of action)
Bhakti Yoga (yoga of devotion)
Jnana Yoga (yoga of knowledge)
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Srimad Bhagavad-Gita?
Srimad
a title of great respect
reveals the essence of all spiritual knowledge
What can I gain from studying it?
accurate, fundamental knowing about God
ultimate truth, creation, birth/death, results of action, eternal
soul, liberation and its purpose, and goal of human existence
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INTRODUCTION
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Bhagavad-Gita
religious classic
a tradition which has emerged from the religious life of
mankind
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Bhagavad-Gita
integrates into a comprehensive thesis the following
(1) vedic cult of sacrifice
(2) Upanisadic teaching of Absolute Brahman
(3) Bhagavata theism
(4) Samkhya dualism
(5) Yoga meditation
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Bhagavad-Gita
BOTH
(1) metaphysics
brahmavidya or the science of reality
(2) ethics
Yoga-sastra or the art of union with reality
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Metaphysics
Takes up Upanisadic conception of Brahman as
absolute reality and develops its theistic side by
giving us a God who exceeds the infinite and the
mere finite
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Metaphysics
The Supreme is at once the transcendental, the cosmic, and
the individual reality.
Transcendental: as the pure Self unaffected by any action
or experience, detached, unconcerned
Cosmic/Dynamic: supports and governs whole cosmic
action
Individual reality: one in all and above all but is also
present in the individual
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Metaphysics
Emphasis of Supreme as the personal God
who creates the perceptible world by His
nature; responsible for creation, preservation,
and destruction of the universe
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Metaphysics
Interested in the process of redeeming the world (God as
savior of man)
Krsna = Visnu aspect of the Supreme; incarnation (avatarna)
or descent of the Divine into the human frame
Incarnation = free fulfilment of that same movement by which
the Divine plenitude freely fulfils itself and inclines toward to
finite
Sees the world as the scene of an active struggle between good
and evil in which God is deeply interested
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Ethics
Gita as comprehensive Yoga-sastra (treatise on yoga)
large, flexible, many-sided
includes various phases of the selfs development and ascent
into the Divine
different yogas = special applications of the inner discipline
which leads to
the liberation of the self (union with God)
a new understanding of the unity and meaning of mankind
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Ethics
3 yogas:
Karma Yoga (the yoga of action)
Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion)
Jnana Yoga (the yoga of knowledge)
Knowledge, devotion, and work are complementary both
when we seek the goal and after we attain it
We may climb the mountain from different paths but the
view from the summit is identical for all.
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CHAPTER 1
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Chapter 1
Divided into two parts
The Question
The Distress of Arjuna
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The Question
An introduction to the main story
Set on the plains of Kurus, with war in the midst of all, where
Samjaya tells the blind king, Dhrtarastra what happened in the
battle.
Duryodhana dentifies each battalion and its respective leaders,
to prove their might and strength.
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The Question
Arjuna + Lord Krsna as his charioteer
Arjuna commanded, just before the brink of war, that his chariot
positioned in front of his men.
So that I may observe these men standing, eager for battle,
with whom I have to contend in this strife of war.
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The Question
There saw Arjuna standing fathers and
grandfathers, teachers, uncles, brothers; sons
and grandsons as also companions
Arjuna felt compassion and sadness.
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The Distress of Arjuna
Talks about the sadness Arjuna felt when he saw the people
fighting along with him.
He says that he feels weakened when he sees his own people
ready to fight.
Does not long for victory, nor kingdom nor pleasures.
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The Distress of Arjuna
They would not be truly happy if they slay the people of
Dhrtarastra
Indeed, how can we be happy, O M!dhave (Krsna), if we kill
our own people?
Why should we not have the wisdom to turn away from this
sin, [...] the wrong in the destruction of family?
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The Distress of Arjuna
Arjuna states that In the ruin of a family, its ancient laws are
destroyed: and when laws perish, the whole family yields to
lawlessness. And when lawlessness prevails, ... the women of
the family become corrupted, and when women are corrupted,
confusion of castes arises.
Hell is the place where there is no law (the men of the
families whose laws are destroyed needs must live in hell)
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The Distress of Arjuna
It would be better for Arjuna to be slain in battle by the people of
Dhrtarastra themselves, having no resistance at all.
The depression and sorrow comes from the fear of lawlessness
and disorder.
Unreasonable: this inaction leads to further lawlessness and
disorder (not following ones dharma)
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CHAPTER 2
Monday, July 22, 13
Chapter 2
Entitled Samkhya Theory
and Yoga Practice
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Krsnas rebuke and
exhortation to be brave
He doesnt wish to fight because of sentimentality and sorrow for
having to face his own blood brothers in battle, a sorrow that
numbs his very senses.
This highlights the importance of familial ties with blood
relatives
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Krsnas rebuke and
exhortation to be brave
2 problems:
Killing his family and relatives (some of whom are teachers)
Overwhelmed senses that he experiences because of sorrow,
which numb them
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Distinction between
Arjuna is grieving for which one should not grieve for for the
wise do not grieve for the dead nor the living.
Krsna refers to himself (and most likely, the Self) that he never
was and never ceases to be.
reminiscent of reincarnaton?
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Distinction between
Samkhya Philosophy:
That which is not there is no coming to be, precisely because it
is not and will never be.
Self (Atman) as unborn, eternal, primeval, permanent.
When body is slain, the true self is not slain
Therefore, one cannot ever slay this immortal self and knowing
this and knowing this, one should not grieve for one cannot truly
slay this self.
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We should not grieve over
what is perishable.
Reality of death
That every being must sooner or later fade
Reincarnation: when one is born, death is certain, and when
one dies, birth is also certain.
Therefore, one should not grieve because one is certain about
this reality.
Moreover, in every perishing body, there is the indestructible self
that cannot be slain.
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Appeal to a sense of duty
Krsna reasons that Arjuna must fulfill his dharma (duty) as a
warrior.
No greater good for a warrior than to fight in a war.
to follow ones dharma > personal conflicts
Following ones dharma will lead to moksha
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Appeal to a sense of duty
Dharma above everything for when following it, good things will
follow
Treating pleasure and pain (and others as well) being the same
Completing ones dharma, one will not incur sin
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Insight of Yoga
The importance of resolute understanding because it allows one
to follow one clear path
One should follow the insights of the yoga for in this path, no
effort is wasted and no obstacle lasts
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No wisdom for worldly-
minded
The undiscerning, the ones who only believe in the or carried
away by the Vedas, whose nature = desire, devoted to enjoyment
and power ARE NOT well- established IN THE SELF
But one must TRANSCEND these, be free from dualities, fixed
in purity, not obessed with acquisition but to be possessed of the
self
One must UNDERSTAND beyond all the worldly sensibles
and not be attached to them
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Work without concern for
results
Action itself is important, yet its fruits should never be the motive
Be fixed in yoga to abandon attachment
yoga - evenness of the mind, whatever the outcome; skill in
action
Discipline of intelligence > Mere action
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Work without concern for
results
Yoking intelligence with divine = casts both good and evil
True intelligence: being unshaken in spirit, attaining true insight
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The characteristics of the
perfect sage
To be like the sage, who is stable in intelligence
for the spirit is content in itself
free from desires and attachment, untroubled by turbulent
emotions
intelligence set in wisdom, indifferent
senses are under control, firm in Yoga, and intent in him
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The characteristics of the
perfect sage
Attachment > Desire > Anger > Bewilderment > Loss of Memory
> Destruction of Intelligence
Freedom from attachment > Purity of spirit > No sorrow
Intelligence is establised in the spirit, in having peace of self
(happiness?)
Divine state = Bliss of God
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CHAPTER 3
Monday, July 22, 13
Chapter 3
Karma-Yoga or the Method of
Work
Arjuna asks Krsna, Why then
dost thou urge me to do this
savage deed?
If understanding is better than
acting/working, why even
work?
How can I attain the highest
good?
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Life is work.
Two-fold way of life:
Path of knowledge (for men of contemplation)
Path of works (for men of action)
Not by abstention from work does a man attain freedom from
action; nor by mere renunciation does he attain to his
perfection.
Our nature to work
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Importance of sacrifice
Do thy work as a sacrifice, becoming free from all attachment.
To be able to continue ones work without being attached to
its fruits
All things are related to work
Work > Sacrifice> Rain > Food > Ones Well-being
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Importance of sacrifice
Know the origin of karma [of the nature of sacrifice] to be in
Brahman, and the Brahman springs from the Imperishable.
Therefore the Brahman, which comprehends all, ever centers
round the sacrifice.
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Be satisfied in the Self
A man whose delight is in the Self alone does not think work
needs to be done.
Does not concern himself as well with the fruits of his labor.
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Set an example to others
Krsna as an ultimate example
No work in the three worlds that needs to be done, and yet he
is engaged in work.
If I should cease to work, there worlds would fall into ruin
(disorder and chaos), and I should be the creator of destroyed
life and destroy these people.
The enlightened man doing all works in a spirit of yoga should
set others to act (as well).
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The Self is no doer
When one is bewildered by the self-sense, and not the true
Self, one would think, I am the doer.
To remember that the modes of nature (gunas) are what makes
us work.
To follow Krsna is to be free from attachment.
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Nature and duty
Beings follow their onw nature.
Sense-attachments and aversions follow what beings sense
Better to follow ones own laws half-baked, than to do someone
elses perfectly.
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The enemy is desire and anger
Arjuna asks: Why does man commit sin even if it is against ones
own will?
craving and wrath: born out of raja guna (mode of passion)
wisdom covered by desire
desire deludes the embodied soul
sense => mind => intelligence => Self (atman)
The enemy is in the form of desire.
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Sources
The Bhagavad-Gita: Questions and Answers. Web. Jul. 18,
2013. URL: http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Articles/faq.html
The Bhagavad-Gita in Pictures. Web. July 22, 2013. URL:
http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/the-bhagavad-gita-in-pictures/
Lecture Notes, Textbook in Class
Monday, July 22, 13