BHAGAVAD GITA

BACKGROUND OF
THE AUTHOR:
 The Bhagavata Gita is attributed to the sage Vyasa.
In the Indian tradition, the Bhagavad Gita, as well as the epic Mahabharata of
which it is a part, is attributed to the sage Vyasa,[24] whose full name was
Krishna Dvaipayana, also called Veda-Vyasa.

According to Kashi Nath Upadhyaya, a Gita scholar, it is possible that a number

of different individuals with the same name compiled different texts.
According to J. A. B. van Buitenen, an Indologist known for his translations and
scholarship on Mahabharata, the Gita is so contextually and philosophically
well knit with the Mahabharata that it was not an independent text that
"somehow wandered into the epic".

According to Alexus McLeod, a scholar of Philosophy and Asian Studies, it is

"impossible to link the Bhagavad Gita to a single author", and it may be the
work of many authors
According to Basham there were three or more authors compilers of Bhagavad
Gita.
CHARACTERS:
 Arjuna - Arjuna is the central figure of the
Gita. He is Krishna's disciple, and asks for
the deity for help when he has to fight his
own family in order to take command of a
kingdom that is rightfully his brother
Yudhishthira's. He is one of the five
Pandava brothers, and next in line to take
over Hastinapura. At first, Arjuna is weak of
heart, unsure how he can fight his kin for a
kingdom. But Krishna shows him that
fighting and ruling is his cosmic duty.
Bhisma- fights against Arjuna, as one of
the elders of the opposing Kaurava
family. Arjuna and Sanjaya make it a
point to extol Bhisma's courage and
will.
 Dhritarashtra- is the king of the Kurus.
Blind since birth, he serves as the king of
Hastinapura, but is not the rightful ruler.
The Gita begins with Dritarashtra aiming to
keep the kingdom in the hands of his family,
and willing to battle against Arjuna, the
rightful heir, in order to keep it.
Dhritarashtra's sons are the Kauravas, who
fight against Arjuna and his Pandava
brothers.
 Pandavas - The sons of "Pandu" are the
Pandavas, and include Arjuna and his
brothers Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva, and
Yudhishthira. Arjuna and the Pandavas
have to fight the Kauravas for the kingdom
of Hastinapura because the Pandavas have
the rightful claim to it. The Pandavas are
considered the forces of good in this battle,
while the Kauravas are considered the
forces of evil.
 Kauravas - The Kauravas are the
sons of Kuru, or rather the sons of
Dhritarashtra. Duryodhana and his
brothers are the Kauravas and they
fight against Arjuna and the
Pandavas.
Ashvatthama- is also mentioned in passing in the Gita, and should be noted only
as a great archer and warrior, who is Drona’s son Aryaman.
Ananta - Ananta is the cosmic serpent that is often seen with Vishnu as part of
his avatar.
Drona- is the general of the Kaurava army who fights against Arjuna and his
Pandava brother’s.

Aryaman - is mentioned in passing in the Gita as a God in the Vedas who was
an ancestor of mankind.
 Brahma - is one of the most revered Hindu deities, and is also known as the
Creator. Brahma shouldn't be confused with Brahman, which is a concept, as
opposed to a manifested deity.

Buddha - Krishna makes reference to the Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama

Shakyamuni, who renounced all material possessions and his worldly life to seek
enlightenment. He found nirvana in the course of his journey during the sixth
century B.C.
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 1: ARJUNA VISHADAYOGA
CHAPTER 2: SANKHYAYOGA
CHAPTER 3: KARMAYOGA
CHAPTER 4: GYANA KARMA SANYASAYOGA
CHAPTER 5: KARMA SANYASAYOGA
CHAPTER 6: DHYANAYOGA
CHAPTER 7: GYANA VIGYANAYOGA
CHAPTER 8: AKSHARA BRAHMAYOGA
CHAPTER 9: RAJA VIDYA GUHYAYOGA
CHAPTER 10: VIBHUTIYOGA
CHAPTER 11: VISHVARUPA DARSHANAYOGA
CHAPTER 12: BHAKTIYOGA
CHAPTER 13: KSHETRA KSHETRAGYA
CHAPTER 14: GUNATRAYA VIBHAGAYOGA
CHAPTER 15: PURUSHOTTAMAYOGA
CHAPTER 16: DAIVASURA SAMPAD VIBHAGAYOGA
CHAPTER 17: SHRADDHAHATRAYA VIBHAGAYOGA
CHAPTER 18: MOKSHA SANYASAYOGA
The blind King Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya to recount to him what happened when his family the
Kauravas gathered to fight the Pandavas for control of Hastinapura. His family isn't the rightful
heir to the kingdom, but they have assumed control, and Dhritarashtra is trying to preserve it for
his son Duryodhana. Sanjaya tells of Arjuna, who has come as leader of the Pandavas to take
back his kingdom, with Sri Krishna as his charioteer. The Gita is the conversation between
Krishna and Arjuna leading up to the battle.

Arjuna doesn't want to fight. He doesn't understand why he has to shed his family's blood
for a kingdom that he doesn't even necessarily want. In his eyes, killing his evil and killing
his family is the greatest sin of all. He casts down his weapons and tells Krishna he will
not fight. Krishna, then, begins the systematic process of explaining why it is Arjuna's
dharmic duty to fight and how he must fight in order to restore his karma.
Krishna first explains the samsaric cycle of birth and death. He says there is no true death of
the soul -- simply a sloughing of the body at the end of each round of birth and death. The
purpose of this cycle is to allow a person to work off their karma, accumulated through
lifetimes of action. If a person completes action selflessly, in service to God, then they can
work off their karma, eventually leading to a dissolution of the soul, the achievement of
enlightenment and vijnana, and an end to the samsaric cycle. If they act selfishly, then they
keep accumulating debt, putting them further and further into karmic debt.

Krishna presents three main concepts for achieving this dissolution of the soul --
renunciation, selfless service, and meditation. All three are elements for achieving 'yoga,' or
skill in action. Krishna says that the truly divine human does not renounce all worldly
possessions or simply give up action, but rather finds peace in completing action in the
highest service to God. As a result, a person must avoid the respective traps of the three
gunas: rajas (anger, ego), tamas (ignorance, darkness), and saatva (harmony, purity).
The highest form of meditation comes when a person not only can free themselves from selfish
action, but also focus entirely on the divine in their actions. In other words, Krishna says that he
who achieves divine union with him in meditation will ultimately find freedom from the endless
cycle of rebirth and death. He who truly finds union with God will find him even at the moment of
death.

Arjuna stills seem to need evidence of Krishna's divine powers, so Arjuna appears to him in his
powerful, most divine form, with the "power of one thousand suns." Seeing Krishna in his
divine state, Arjuna suddenly realizes what enlightenment can bring him in union, and he now
completely has faith in the yogic path. He goes on to ask Krishna how he can receive the love
of God, and Krishna reveals that love comes from a person's selfless devotion to the divine, in
addition to an understanding that the body is simply ephemeral -- a product of prakriti,
emerging from purusha, and is subject to endless rebirth. A person must let go of their body's
cravings and temptations and aversions to find freedom.
The Gita ends with Krishna telling Arjuna he must choose the path of good or
evil, as it his his duty to fight the Kauravas for his kingdom. In that, he is
correcting the balance of good and evil, fulfilling his dharma, and offering the
deepest form of selfless service. Arjuna understands and, with that, proceeds
into battle.
THEME
 KARMA VS. DHARMA

Arjuna is faced with a prospect of going to war with his family and friends but finds himself unable to go through with
it. He steps down from his chariot and declares himself a renunciate.It would seem a natural thing to do this, for
who would want to kill his family and friends for land and power.The issue is though Arjuna is a Prince, and regarded
as a finest warrior of his time. He has always accepted his role as a Prince, so when things don't appear to be
going so well he decides it's time to get off and not face his karma. Unfortunately we can't do that, once we have
acted we must accept there is a reaction, we can't just decide we don't have to deal with the consequences of our
actions.

PROOF VS. FAITH

One of the more subtle themes in Gita is the contrast between faith and evidence and humanity's inclination to want
to "see" something in order to believe it.
Indeed one of the central tenants of Buddhism is that we must believe what we see and spend our lives trying to see
a clearly as possible. But Arjuna keeps asking for evidence,or practicalities of how to achieve yoga and meditation,
and Krishna finally offers him the sight of him in his most powerful form. Why Krishna doesn't demand total faith is an
interesting tension in the Gita,and one that requires careful attention.
 THEORY VS. ACTION

Arjuna is constantly asking Krishna for pragmatic advice of how to put the Gita into concrete action.This
emphasis on action is at the core of the entire work. What Krishna gives Arjuna, then, are clear steps and
hierarchies for achieving the path of yoga. First off he says meditation is the most important element, for
meditation allows a focus on the divine that will tranform every aspect of one's life .
Second there is a selfless service, and finally ,though not as powerful , on can also turn blind to renunciation.
Krishna sees an enlightenment as a process that requires self control and self discipline in a series of concrete
steps.

SEEN VS. UNSEEN

Krishna make the distinction between the seen world and unseen world, both products of his divine lila, or play.
The unseen world is the purusha of which all things are born.It is the spiritually unseen relams that informs
everything that comes from praktiri, the material world.A humas we have a tendency to put a primacy only on
what we see instead of believing in a higher realm. Krishna wants Arjuna to have faith in the unseen as the
guide of all his actions.
 IMPACT TO
CULTURE AND
SOCIETY
 IMPACT TO CULTURE

It is stated in the Bhagavad Gita that selfless actions can lead persons to the enlightenment that is why this
scripture is important for the Hindu religion and culture regarding the focus on the selfless devotion to moral
ideas and to God (Minor 344).

IMPACT TO SOCIETY

Bhagavad Gita has inspired many of our national leaders and provided them strength, moral courage and clarity of
thought with which they have led the country in its struggle.
THANK YOU