S¡DHAN¡S IN BHAGAVAD GITA - …

1 S DHAN S IN BHAGAVAD GITASri Swami Sh nt nanda PuriPARVATHAMMA SUBBARAJU SETTYCHARITABLE TRUST13/8, Road, Bangalore - 560 : 6523011 e-mail : is, perhaps, no other religious text or philosophicaltreatise which has been interpreted or misinterpreted, commentedupon, lectured upon and handled by so many thousands ofAcharyas, Masters, both old and modern, Scholars and Savants,as BHAGAVAD GITA. The author is a humble sannyasi with nopretentions either to scholarship or any spiritual height. With alldiffidence he has tried to limelight in this book the types of spiritualpractices or S dhan s delineated in the text either directly orindirectly as understood by him from his Master's own life andthe few revelations which came up in his studies and are all S dhan s befitting all stages of spiritual growth- fromthe class to the (Doctorate).

2 Except on two or threeoccasions, the author has steered clear of all controversial issuesand sectarian BHAGAVAD Gita mainly means the ""song sung by SRIBHAGAWAN''. It is rarely that people sing their own the Gita M h tmya, it is told ""GITA ME H DAYAM P RTHA'' ,GITA is the heart of the Lord. Lord Krishna has opened his heartand gave the Gita of his heart to Arjuna. The entire Gita is aconversation from heart to heart between two companions.""SAMV DAMIMAM A ROUSHAM ADBHUTAM ROMAHARSHANAM''The truths of the GITA can be understood only if one givesone's heart to it. It can never be mastered through intellect andscholarship alone. The entire Gita which was always clamouringinside the heart of the Lord came up by itself without any effortwhen once the Lord opened his mouth.

3 ""Y SWAYAM PADMAN BHASYA MUKHAPADM DVINIS TA''DEDICATIONThis book is dedicatedwith veneration tothe Lotus Feet of my Revered GuruSwami Purushottamanandajiof Vasishta Guha, , Himalayas,andall the Spiritual aspirantsall over the Worldwho inspired me to write this bookxiiiixIf we want to understand the GITA, some friendship orcompanionship with Lord Krishna will also be necessary. Finally,we have to become identified with Lord Krishna himself. You cannever remain separate from him and claim to understand the before the start of the Gita, Krishna sends a message throughSanjaya to Dh tar shtra thus-""K SHNO DHANANJAYASY TMA KRISHNASY TM DHANANJAYA''Krishna is the soul of Arjuna and vice versa too.

4 As Gita is theSakti (Power) of the Lord, she is to be approached reverently asthe DIVINE MOTHER herself manifested for annihilating our Sansara(phenomenal world)-""AMBA TW MANUSANDADH MI BHAGAVADGITE BHAVADWESHINEEM''.Any of the few slokas quoted in this booklet is alone worthyof meditation for hours together and its benefit will be , there are various types of S dhan s suited for variousS dhaks with diverse tastes irrespective of the path he for people who are not concerned with any S dhan s butwant to live a simple, happy, harmonious life without any hankeringafter MOKSHA or God, there are peace-capsules and happiness-capsules which will go a long way in ameliorating their tensions,anxieties, mental depressions, hardships and sufferings withoccasional glimpses of real happiness.

5 It is not necessary that oneshould do all the S dhan s prescribed in the Gita. Pick up whateverappeals to you, hold fast to it and develop it with the fire of desirefor the final goal burning fiercely. Rest will all follow. Thegravitational force of Lord's mercy will catapult you to your book has been written based on Lord's inspiration mainly for""SW NTAS SUKHAYA'' ( dm V gwIm`) . Even if a single reader isbenefited from this book, it is a bonus. HARI Swami I: LIFE IS AS SWEET AS YOU MAKE II: YOU ARE NOT THE BULB ;YOU ARE ELECTRICITY III: ACT BUT NO ATTACHMENT IV: NON-ACTION IN V: DIVINISE DAILY VI: MEDITATE AND VII: HE IS VIII: OH DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?

6 34 CHAPTER IX: LORD, UNTO YOU I DEDICATE ALL I DO ..37 CHAPTER X: SEEK HIM IN ALL CREATION ANDREALISE HIS XI: OH! WHAT A COSMIC XII: LORD, I WANT YOU XIII: THE PLAYGROUND OF THE XIV: THREE FOLD BUILDING XV: I AM THE SUPREME XVI: THE DIVINE VERSUS THE XVII: OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH !..67 CHAPTER XVIII: LORD, THY WILL IS MY dhan s in BHAGAVAD GitaS dhan s in BHAGAVAD Gita4 AUMSRI MAHA GANAPATAYE NAMAHSRI KRISHNAYA NAMAHINTRODUCTIONS rimad BHAGAVAD Gita which forms part of the great epicMahabharata authored by Maharshi Vyasa is one of the foremostamong the classical texts of spiritual instructions. It is one ofthe triple canons (Prasthana thraya) of our Sanatana Dharma andIndian Philosophy and is also considered as the quintessence ofthe Upanishads (Part of the Vedic scriptures dealing with Self-knowledge).

7 Mankind throughout the world is facing crisis after crisiseveryday. This divine ode of Krishna is of great relevance eventoday when, everywhere, both at the individual and collectivenational levels, fear, hatred, violence, greed, jealousy and othernegative factors, are ruling the world. Gita has been rightlybaptised by some scholars as a Crisis Hand Book (vade mecum).It gives us methods akin to psycho-therapy by following whichman can learn to extract maximum happiness, avoid stress andstrain and, in due course, attain Self knowledge leading topermanent bliss and release from all sufferings and purpose of this booklet is not to go into the dialecticsor the exegesis of abstruse philosophy but is two fold:-(i) to enable the common man living in the modern worldto cope with situations of stress and inner conflicts which hehas to face every day.

8 (ii) to guide the seeker at all stages (from the neophyteto the highly evolved aspirant) to find his path towards God-realisation which will bestow absolute happiness forever. Thevarious spiritual practices envisaged in each chapter, to befollowed by the aspirants, are being highlighted in dhan s in BHAGAVAD GitaS dhan s in BHAGAVAD Gita5 CHAPTER ILIFE IS AS SWEET AS YOU MAKE ITThe Gita was spontaneously conceived in the battle-fieldto guide Arjuna who was baffled about the rights and wrongsof the war he was about to embark upon with his own cousins-the Kauravas. The visual impact of the sight of all his kith andkin, friends, preceptors and others arrayed on either side withintent to kill and be killed shocked Arjuna into a sense ofhypocritical morality that he was embarking on a sinful deed withdevastating repercussions.

9 As a result of his deeply entrenchedattachment to his own people, he lost his sense of discriminationand could not see as to where lay his duty. If only the peopleactively involved in the battle were not related to him, Arjunawould have had no compunction at all to fight and kill is the grief of Arjuna which formed a pretext for ourgetting such a profound text on spirituality, like the Gita, whichis applicable for all times and for all people irrespective ofcountry, race, creed or historical battle background of the Gita is battle-field of Kurukshetra represents our own body-mindcomplex which is the field (Kshetra) of action (Kuru-to do oract). The Pandavas (including Arjuna) represent the divinemodalities (Sanskaras) while the Kauravas indicate the demoniacaltendencies in us.

10 The conflict is between the good and the badtendencies in us which dictate our action. This is the Mahabharatawar which goes on in the mind of every individual. Dh tarashtra,the blind king and father of the Kauravas, as his very namesuggests (Dh tam R shtram Yena Sah) is not only attached firmlyto his earthly kingdom but is also attached to the kingdom ofhis body. Naturally, the attachment has made him blind to alljustice and he refuses to concede the rightful share of thekingdom to the BHAGAVAD Gita starts at the very outset by depictinga picture of Arjuna, a hero of unparalleled might and provedvalour who is reduced psychologically to a pulp on account ofhis deep attachment to his people.