Looking Ourselves in The Mirror of Srimad Bhagavat Gita

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Srimad Bhagavat Gila is a scripture for the entire mankind. This scripture which took birth in the middle of a war field as the teachings for a warrior - whose emotions overtook his commitment to duty - is capable of leading us in the right path. It instructs us on the arts of living, working, worshipping, looking at our relationship with Nature (Prakrithi) and, thereby, leading a purposeful life.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita is a mine of treasures for any human being. It enlightens us that we are children of immortality, and exhorts us to discharge our duties and responsibilities with the Fire of Knowledge (Jnaanaagni) as the means to live up to that Truth.

In this book, the reader is taken step-by-step to reach the final goal of experiencing that bliss and seeing the Prakrithi as the cause for performing all bounden duty. The uniqueness of this book is that it gives the entire essence of the teachings of the Gita, chapter-wise, as contained in its eighteen chapters, in a precise, concise and simple form to understand the eternal principles of living without any dogmatic presumptions. This book explains how the teachings in the Gita are relevant for the present society.

C. A. Subramanian had done his schooling in the Palakkad District of Kerala and his higher studies from the University of Delhi. As had had the fortune of studying the Yajurveda post the school timings under erudite teachers who also impressed on him the message of those scriptures. He has good background knowledge about the Sanskrit language and is well versed in Srimad Bhagavatham. Bhagavat Gita, Durga Sapthasathi. etc. as a fruit of contact with saintly monks of Sri Ramakrishna Mission in New Delhi and other Grihastha scholars on those subjects. He is familiar with the Divya Prabandham of Azhwars.

He had retired from the Central Civil Service as Joint Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training. He had contributed articles on various facets of administration in various seminars. During his tenure in the Ministry of Defence, the Sections undo. him were consecutively rated as the Best Maintained Sections for three years. He presently stays in Noida.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita is a mine of treasures for any human being who has the conviction: human body is an invaluable gift; one's duties and responsibilities have to be discharged with honesty, integrity and efficiency; common good arising out of actions should be the measuring rod for a work well done, and devotion to Lord Krishna is the quintessence of a purposeful life. The gem of Viveka Buddhi is exclusive to the human beings.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita enlightens us that we are children of immortality; advises us to discharge our duties and responsibilities as Yagna with common good as the aim and shows us the Karma Yoga, Bhakthi Yoga and Jnaana yoga as the means to live up to that Truth, depending upon each individual's maturity levels to understand their nuances to adopt in the day-to-day life.

This scripture enables us to experience the beauty of human birth by living and performing our work in the ways instructed by Lord Krishna. The gateway to this beautiful experience is mainly through the performance of our duties with the control of our senses and mind, coupled with devotion toward Lord Krishna.. We have to make a self-assessment of our ability to come up to the level of balancing ourselves, in order to make an estimate of the extent of our reflection in the mirror of the Srimad Bhagavat Gita.

There may be practically no speaking language in this world in which the Srimad Bhagavat Gita has not been translated from Sanskrit language. However, a good number of the devotees would like to enjoy the essence of the Gita in English language exclusively, not as a translation of the 700 Sanskrit slokas in the scripture, but as a discourse on the different Yogas and their application in practical life.

From a deep and devotional study of this scripture, I felt that many subtle truths revealed in this scripture still remain hidden. Some of the translations/commentaries even appear to criticize certain statements in the Bhagavat Gita as not applicable to the present day societies. Some translations/ commentaries make it appear as if this scripture is mainly intended for those who are aspiring for liberation from the clutch of repeated births and deaths - renouncers of world - or who are pure devotees of the Lord with no wants to be fulfilled. These may not be strictly correct.

In each Chapter of the Gita, we can find Lord Krishna exhorting us through Arjuna to discharge one's duties and responsibilities as Yagna, sincerely, efficiently and with the Fire of Knowledge in the intellect and the honey of devotion to Lord Krishna in the heart, as explained in this scripture -without attachment to the concerned objects and the fruits of the actions.

Srimad Bhagavat Gita is the instructional Sermon delivered by Lord Sri Krishna in the form of a dialogue between Arjuna - one of the Paandavaas - and Sri Krishna at the beginning of the Mahabharatha War. The war between the sons of Paandu with their allies and the sons of King Dhritharaashtra with their allies had to be fought as Duryodhana - the eldest son of Dhritharaashtra - refused to hand over to the Paandavaas their share of the Kingdom which Duryodhana had usurped from the sons of Paandu with the blessings of his father Dhritharaashtra. Duryodhana had also evaded the efforts of Lord Krishna to avoid the war. The dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna is reported by Sanjaya to Dhritharaashtra. The teachings imparted by Lord Krishna to Arjuna are equally applicable to all human beings.

Gita as a Source of Power to the Intellect

Srimad Bhagavat Gita is the essence of Upanishads which is known as the Jnaana Kaanda in the Vedic tradition. The Gita is in the direction of Brahma Vidya, throwing light at the Divine nature of the individual Self, with highlighting the eternal relationship between the individual Self and the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna - who is worshipped as Para Brahm, Param Atma and Bhagavaan - and how the Supreme Lord, through His Divine Mahaamaaya, has organized the ever-continuing process of Creation, Sustenance and Dissolution of the Universe. These three items form the theme in the Gita. A person who is ignorant of this Knowledge is treated as "deluded," and a person who is blessed by the Supreme Lord to perform his allotted duties in concordance with this Knowledge is said to possess the "Smrithi." Gita discusses these three aspects of the "Smrithi" in a manner understandable even by a layman, provided he has the Faith and takes shelter at the Lotus Feet of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna is the embodiment of the Param Atma. Symbolically, for the purpose of Gita, all Upanishads are called the Cows; Lord Krishna is the cowherd who had churned out the ambrosia of Gita; Arjuna is the calf, and the wise people are the ones who benefit by drinking this milk of ambrosia. At the end of the discourse by Lord Krishna, Arjuna confirms that his "delusion" has gone and that he has gotten back the "Smrithi." He promises that he would perform his duty as instructed.

**Contents and Sample Pages**