Bhagavad Gita As It Is
Gita means song and Bhagavad is the Lord. Bhagavad Gita is the song of Lord Krishna.
My studies in yoga started in the Winter of 1997 after I had taken my first yoga class as an elective in Endicott College. It was a sample class, but something in that class had sparked inside of me the desire to learn more. Like many of us, I got a book about yoga and started to study it on my own. In the Summer of 2009, I completed my first yoga teacher training. I was teaching yoga full time, I loved what I was doing and the impact it had on my students. But deep inside, there was something missing. I felt a big gap that I did not know how to explain to myself. I thought I needed to study yoga more. In 2014, I finished another teacher training in Integrative Yoga Therapy. For sure I learned a lot more and went deeper into the philosophy of yoga, but now I was more lost than before.
I knew I needed to take a break from full-time yoga teaching and go back to being a full-time student. I had faith something will unfold. For sure yoga communities are the best and you get to meet some of the most interested and gifted people. For me, one of them is my friend Wesley who introduced me to Krishna Consciousness. I like kirtan and that is one of the things that drew me to the temple. There was also a lot of studying and everyone was mentioning a book that I had heard -in my teacher training, but always said I will focus on that later, as now I was busy studying detailed alignment in yoga poses (asana). I was too busy studying the body, but I was missing the big picture that is the “soul.” This is what it was missing all these years. Most of us are aware and practice only one small percentage of what yoga is. As soon as I started reciting the Maha Mantra daily and reading the Bhagavad Gita things have changed inside of me and I have found more meaning in life.
Below, my friend Wesley is explaining in simple words what Bhagavd Gita is and how we can all benefit from its teachings no matter what our cultural or religious background is.
The Bhagavad Gita is a stand-alone text that is also part of the Indian epic Mahabharata. The Bhagavad Gita is a synthesis of many different philosophies existing at the time in Classical India. By reading the Gita, you come to an understanding of who you really are, what you are doing here, and where you are going to after death. This is serious deep stuff. The Gita then provides answers to existential questions of life. Whether you are religious or not, spiritual or not, theist, atheist, agnostic, or however you identify yourself, the Gita touches on questions you have probably already asked yourself. Because the Gita is a synthesis of many different philosophies, different people with different journeys have been able to find in it shelter for their search for self-knowledge. Read it with an open mind, and you will knowledge that cannot be found anywhere else. Enjoy the journey.
Why Bhagavad Gita “as it is” ?
His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada translated his Gita “as it is” because he did not want to be seen as interpreting what Krishna was saying. If Krishna is saying something, then Krishna is meaning that something. There is no need to think that what Krishna really means is something else. That is why Prabhupada translated his Gita “as it is” - as it is really spoken by Krishna without any need for additional interpretation.
Why 18 chapters ?
One of the ways sages would explain this is that the first six chapters talk about karma-yoga: the yoga of action. The following six chapters talk about jnana-yoga: the yoga of knowledge, and the final six chapters talk about Bhakti-yoga: the yoga of devotion. Thus, Krishna is showing a hierarchy in the types of yoga - karma-yoga being the lowest, and Bhakti-yoga being the highest.
What are the five topics of the Bhagavad-Gita?
The Gita talks about the nature of five distinct substances: the individual soul, God, karma, reincarnation, and time. In other words, what is the relationship between the individual soul and God? By what karma does the soul remain in this world and by what actions is it liberated? If the soul is not realized, how does it move from one body to another? And what is the relationship between the temporary reincarnations of the soul and the eternality of God’s abode.
Why do Bhakti-Yogis focus on three devotional Vedic texts only?
The Vedic corpus is immense. It might take more than one lifetime to read and, most importantly, understand all the samhitas, brahmanas, aranyakas, upanishads, and puranas. The sage Vyasadeva then decided to write down the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata for regular people to learn the Vedic literature through stories. The Bhagavad-Gita, the first book a Bhakti-yogi focuses on, is a synthesis of all the Vedic corpus mentioned above. As the Gita establishes that one is not a body but a spiritual soul, and that the spiritual soul is in an eternal relationship with God, the Srimad Bhagavatam explains what kinds of relationships there are and Caitanya Caritamrta explains the nature of the topmost relationships one can develop with God. That is why Bhakti-yogis focus on these three scriptures alone for this age of Kali Yuga.
About the Author
Wesley De Sena
At an early age, Wesley enrolled in a Seminary of Vedic Philosophy and Theology where he studied the bhakti literature of classical India. His interest in Sanskrit language and literature has only deepened since then. Currently, he pursues related academic studies at Harvard University.
