Today is Gita Jayanti, the day when Bhagavan Krishna coached Arjuna through the Bhagavad Gita. What a coach and what a gift to the whole world ! The Bhagavad Gita is incomparable – 700 verses long and every shloka worth its weight in gold. Not a word wasted, not a word that’s superfluous. Its the divine speaking the universal truth.
I started a series of blogposts in 2018 starting from Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita and interpreting it for the corporate world. Do read the first in that series – Leadership Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita 1 – Decision Making.
When I re-read my blogpost today, I realised that my understanding was limited at that time and my interpretation was related more to the corporate world than a spiritual seeker. Over these seven years, I have read a few more books and listened to many more discourses of Osho’s as I travel along the spiritual path. My understanding of the Bhagavad Gita is also a bit deeper than it was in 2018.
During the Aarogyahaar coaching classes, we discuss several books and spiritual matters as well besides just learning about how to heal the physical body. Till the spirit is healed, there is no complete healing anyway !! One of the books that came up for discussion and I subsequently purchased was Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda’s “God Talks With Arjuna”.
I will share the interesting analysis of the Bhagavad Gita in these two volumes over the next few days.
Starting today with the very first verse –
धृतराष्ट्र उवाच |
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः |
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ||1||
English Translation – Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?
The above has been taken from this link – BG1.1: Chapter 1, Verse 1 – Bhagavad Gita, The Song of God.
The first verse looks innocuous at first sight.. a worried blind father wants to know what’s happening on the battlefield. The interpretation offered by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda is very fascinating. He equates the war happening on the battlefield of Kurukshetra to the war happening inside us every single day.
Our blind mind is the blind Dhritarashtra, enquiring Sanjaya, the impartial observer about what’s happening in the battlefield. The allegory is stunning. Sanjaya was gifted with the Divya dhristi or the ability to see what’s happening on the battlefield so that he could narrate it to Dhritarashtra. He is a witness, nothing more, nothing less… and a Sanjaya lives within each of us.
If only we can be “observers” or become aware that we are mere witnesses, moksha is right here and now. But the blind mind continues to rule us and we continue to suffer the consequences.
Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda interprets the 100 sons of Dhritarashtra as the ten senses (five of perception and five of action) and their ten inclinations. The Pandavas are the five tattvas or what we more easily understand as Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether.
Our body is likened to a chariot, with the soul as the owner of the chariot, intelligence is the charioteer, senses are the horses. The mind is blind because it cannot see without the senses and intelligence. … and the literal translation of “Sanjaya” is one who is completely victorious… one who has conquered himself and in the process becomes an impartial witness to all the events that unfold.
I have my own interpretation of why Sanjaya was given the Divya Dhristi – when you see things from a distance, you are able to take better decisions as you can see the entire “decision-field”. Do ask the Sanjaya within you, everyday, before going to bed – what happened on the battlefield today? And just like Sanjaya, remain a witness without taking sides and impartially decide whether blind senses won the day or your discerning intelligence won the day !
Fascinating, right ? More to come !
Happy Gita Jayanti.
Simply marvellous!