Introduction

Vedanta

Veda and anta : it means the end of the highest or climactic point of something, especially as attained after a long time.

They give us relative knowledge i.e. What pertains to senses and the intellect is relative knowledge. But the scope of vedanta transcends this relative world and relative knowledge. It leads the aspirant to transcendental knowledge and finally to absolute knowledge. The limitations of the senses and the intellect have to be got over in order to reach that higher knowledge.

Vedanta may be viewed as mother of all religions.

Vedanta always holds aloft the torch light of inquiry above all schisms, and focuses attention on realization of the truth in its nakedness.

Three categories of reality

1. Jagat or the universe we live in.

2. Jivas or the individualsoul that live in the universe.

3. The Substratum behind the universe

This is the repository of knowledge and power. Not only does it sustain, but also govern the control and destiny of Jagat and Jivas are in Jagat. Enshrouded as the jivas are in jagat, they subject themselves to countless births and transmigrations. Through transmigration they either evolve to higher orders of life or involve to the lower ones. Virtue and righteous acts help them go upwards. Vice and sinful acts drag them downward. Mukti or emancipation is effected by giving oneself away in to God. Mukti is the goal of all jivas.

The core

Three systems

Dvaita ( Human Life in Wakeful State)

The universe, the individual souls, and God three are separate and everlasting entities. God rules over the universe and the souls. The souls in their ignorance are entangled in universe. Through devotion to God and through his mercy obtain thereby, the souls are free themselves from the bondage of the world and attain the realm of God. This state of living with God in Heaven is termed Mukti. There the Jivas are eternally in the presence of their Lord. Their individuality is not lost because of Mukti.

visishtadviata( Human Life in dream state)

Literally means "qualified non-dualism". God alone exists, according to it. The cosmos is His body. Jivas exist as innumerable life cell in that cosmic body. As the rays of the sun are inseparated from it, the individual souls cannot be separated from God. With the down of the intuitive knowledge, the Jivas realise that the Paramatama (God) is the whole and he an infinitesimal part of it. The attainment of this knowledge leads to emancipation. Complete self surrender is the means to the attainment of this goal. In the state of Mukti the Jivas is ever aware that he is a limb of the Lord.

advaita (Human life in Dreamless Sleep; One without second)

Advaita = non-dualism: What are termed Jagat and Jiva and brahman are not really separate entities. Reality is one without a second. It is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Infinite. This inherent power goes by name of maya. Brahman and maya are inseparable. This is implication of the word Advaita. It is because of his ignorance that Jiva fancies that he is separate from the universe and the substratum behind it. With the dawn of knowledge this feeling of difference vanishes. The reality alone exist. Because of Its Mayashakati It manifest Itself as the Jiva and Jagat. Resolving this sakti into Itself, It also remains unmanifest. In its kinetic state it is Saguna Brahaman (Conditioned Reality), in the static Nirguna (Absolute Reality). As the wave subsides into the ocean the individual soul dissolves into the absolute. This is emancipation according to the Advaita system of philosophy.

The way of Sri Krishna

The plan and purpose of vedanta is to lead the aspirant towards reality.

The Bhagvad Gita does not exhort anyone to be dualist, a qualified monist. Wake up to your supreme consciousness. Be established in your divine nature. You are omnipotent in your sphere. Perform your duty with ease and spontaneity. You have not come into this world to drag on a wretched existence. There is an inviolable and holy relationship between you and this world. It is yoga to make this relationship operative.
Through effective functioning let all of your faculties pay homage to your ever expanding consciousness. As blossom sends forth its fragrance, let your love become all embracing and inspiring. Like the blazing sun, May your intellect throw luster on all that you contact. When you wake up to this spiritual eminence, Advaita, visisthdvaita and dvaita take their respective places and function in hierarchy of your enlightened personality. In this manner the Yogeswara exhorts the souls to become yogis.

Sri Ramkrishna followed in the footstep of Sri Krishna. His entire attention was focused on transforming life into spiritual dynamo. Nothing in the world was alien to his all embracing divine love. The grace of the Lord was the only fortune that he inherited in superabundance.

Definition of God

He is indefinable. But when He immanent in the universe, He is denoted as Sat Cit anandam -Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. That which is not affected by time, space and causation is sat or Reality. But all the same, Reality puts on the appearance of getting entangled in time, space and causation. The Jivatmans are the manifestations of the Reality, the Paramatman. These individualizes souls are more over given to ceaseless activity. As light and heat happen to be part and parcel of the blazing sun, Karma is inherent in Jiva. The first six chapters of Gita do therefore deal concurrently with the principles of Karma Yoga and category of the individual soul. Thought or mentation is subtle form of karma. For this reason the sixth chapter of the Gita which deals with meditation, is given a place in the first section.

Verily each activity is actuated by will. There is no karma independent of the will. The gross manifestation of the will is action. The entire creation is the manifestation of cosmic will. All forms of will resolve themselves ultimately into the will to live.
Existence, not extinction is the essential nature of the soul. God is life. Souls have emanated from God. So they attempt to assert life in the midst of seeming extermination imposed on them by the play of Nature. This assertion of existence called Sat. And God is defined as Sat. The first six chapter of the Gita are devoted to the elucidation of Sat or existence aspect of Reality.
Man feels but machine do not. Feeling is concomitant with life. It undergoes several modifications. Expressions such as like, friendship, fulfillment, admiration and support are all positive aspect of the faculty of feeling while dislike, enmity, frustration, jealousy and opposition are all its negative expression. Negative ones retard. To sublimate emotions to highest pitch is summum bonum of life.

Chapter 7 to 12 of the Bhagvad Gita are devoted to definition of God, and the cultivation of devotion. A man of devotion is attracted towards God. And God is love. Pure loves generates sweetness. It also express itself as bliss. Supreme bliss is divinity itself. Anandam Brahman - Bliss is Reality. It is in search of this bliss that souls struggle and hug life. But its bliss, life would tolerated even for a moment. Out of the fully blossomed flower of emotion flows the nectar of anandam. The second part of the Gita exhorts man to feast on It.

Inert mater exists, a living being also exists. A living being is aware of its own existence while the other is not. A living being knows that it exists. This act of knowing is cognition. Highly evolved beings have more cognition while those in early stages have it enshrouded in inertia. The difference between one life and another is in the degree, not of kind. A mounting release of cognition as well as condensed intensification of it, is plan of nature.

Between emotion an cognition there is a link. When iron is heated it melts and become soft. Instantly it gives out luster. Emotion in living beings may be equated with the melting process in the iron. The next point that has to be admitted is the equation of luster in the melted metal with cognition. This parallel of the molten state growing lustrous is drown from inert matter. In living being emotion and cognition coexist; when emotion gets purified, cognition gets sharpened. Love and sympathy between two person lead to understanding better than one that is commonly found among casual acquaintances to the extent men understand each other affinity develops. This link between love and knowledge can be made use of to strengthen the relationship between God and man. Love of God leads to a knowledge of Him.

Intelligence, awareness, cognition, consciousness, conscience - these are terms indicating the same faculty. Chapter 13 to 18 of the Gita delineate the path of knowledge. By brighter and brighter a burning lamp reveals itself and surrounding in an increasing measure. It also begins to throw increasing lights on the objects brought to is presence. Let us suppose that the lamp is placed in a glass case, coated with dirt. Bright though the flame is, its brilliance is seemingly tarnished. To the extent the glass undergoes cleansing, brilliance become patent. The divine lamp of Intelligence is enshrined in the temple of human frame. As the faculty of understanding undergoes purification, the inner light begins to shine with greater glory. The processes of cleansing the faculty of understanding are presented in the 3rd section dealing with the path of knowledge. God is light. It is ultimately realised by the seeker that what shines through human frame is none other than the inextinguishable Cosmic Light. The yoga of knowledge contributes towards the purification of faculty of understanding until it reaches its culmination in intuitive knowledge . Sat Cit Anandam or life, light love are the inseparable three phases of the same Reality. Karma Yoga postulate Sat, Bhakti yoga postulate anandam and Jnan yoga culminate cit. All the three systems of yoga culminate Yogeshwara. The aspirant is expected to follow all three systems of Yoga simultaneously until they find fulfilment in him as well.

The scripture Universal

This book alone is of universal value which revels the path of perfection. This scared study is put into practice by a fewer still, while those who attain perfection as a result of such study and practice are very rare indeed. On this ground of fewness and rarity the search after perfection should not be dismissed as something of not important. Its value is at par at all times and with all people. The inviolable law that governs life is that all have to attain perfection at one time at another.
Self perfection is the acme of human aspirant. Sooner or latter all have to pay homage to it and attain it. Gita is a Clarion Call to this goal.

Self perfection is the goal in life. Yoga is the means to it. Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnan Yoga get their due place in the Bhagvad Gita. A Bird required requires 2 wing and a tail for its flight. The soul is endowed with Bhakti and Jnanam to serve as two wings. Karma Yoga serves as that maintain the balance.
All spiritual practices are a part and parcel of these three yogas.
The massage of Gita is to metamorphose all actions into liberating scared ones.

Will emotions and cognition are the three aspects of the phenomenon of the mind. Nought exists in psyche beyond the realm of these three functions. A healthy and wholesome mind has a universal value. Nothing in the world compare with a fully evolved mind. He owns every thing who own fully evolved mind. A harmonious development of the will, emotion and cognition goes to constitute perfect mind. The slightest inequality among these three function will, to that extent, result in imperfection in the formation of character.

The plan and purpose of the Gita is to evolve out of man, a personality that is perfect from all points of view. A strong body and a virile mind from material of which such personality is built. Efficiency to the core is the creation of a powerful personality. To do good and make other do good is possible only to the powerful in body and mind.
The next great factor in the formation of personality is love. All living being are endowed with love, though degree may vary. And this love can be purified as well as intensified. From pure love emanates sweetness in all its excellence. It has the power to bind all beings in affable unity.
The third and final factor is the intellect. It may be equated with the broad blazing sun, which revealed everything in its true light. But for intellect, the higher qualities of things remain unrecognised. It is intellect again that guides beings to right actions. To a person endowed with efficient hand, with a loving heart and with a clear head nothing more remains to be added. He becomes a complete personality verging on divinity. Perfection marks him for its own. A harmonious development of the hand, the heart and the head is patent in such a personality.

The Gita is the perfect guide to those who aspire to build a perfect personality.
Every student of the Gita is a potential Arjun. May he receive light in his own way from the scripture universal.

The best among the commentaries

Sunrise

The beauty and charm of its own.

Source of inspiration
Various angle

Astronomy

Mathematics

Medical Science

Natural science

Metrology

Biology

Several other science

The Bhagvad Gita

Source of inspiration
Various angle

Philosophy of Love

Manual of pure knowledge

Philosophy of Yoga

Philosophy of politics

Science of warfare

Several other science

Life of Sri Krishna is the grand source out of which Gita has emerged

The best among his discourse is of course the Gita in the battlefield.

He preaches nothing but what He put into practice all through His life therefor the greatest "commentary" on the Gita is the life of his author

Commentaries

Upnishads

Brahma Sutras

Bhagvad Gita

Polictical Power

Missionary Zeal

Christendom , The holy Bible

Material Resource

The law of life and principles that govern human life

This laws and principle require no patron or defender

This fountain of life does not get exhausted with the flow of time

Exposition of the sentence sublime.

Great scripture are all exponents of Maha-vakyam, the sentence sublime. It proclaims the relationship between God and man. The most popular one among them is " Tat tvam asi" तत् त्वम् असि "That thou art". That you are not alien to God is the purport of this sublime sentence. The Bhagvad Gita is from beginning to end a grand commentary on sublime statement thou art that.
The three sixes the trisatkam.
The first six chapter elucidate the word thou in the maha-vakyam. The word stands for the Jivatma or the individual soul with its potentiality and possibilities.
Chapter seven to twelve from the second satkam. This portion deals with the word "that" indicting God or ultimate reality.
The third satkam contains the last six chapters. The predicate art get explained in this portion. The inviolable relationship between the cosmic reality and individual soul is well established in this part of the book.
Giving equal weight to all the three is another speciality of the Gita.

He was therefore now obliged to seek that enlightenment which would help him to probe into the mystery of life and tide over the difficulty.

Life beset with problem

Self knowledge inspired by divine grace alone can equip a person to overcome the crisis

Mahabharat as symbolic

Law of nature are eternal and uniform

Repeat itself under similar circumstances

Law of incarnation of God is equally uniform

Body Center life itself a kind of warfare.

Parallel to Pandava (5) & Kaurava(100) at kurukshetra there are good and bad tendencies (Like cousin) are lodged in the human structure.

Opposed to each other as they are, these sets of tendencies try to dominate the bodily domain. The evil ones among them are ever adopts at mobilising in their favour all possible resources of nature.

There is no need for God to entangle himself in action of any kind, good or bad. He is merely the changeless witness. In his presence activities take place in nature. Though Himself action less, His grace is in favour of the good.

Sri Krishna's agreeing to be in an unarmed charioteer to the pandvas signifies this great truth.

God is ever the Great charioteer residing in the heart of all.

His presence as Conscience within the embodied beings is perceptible to the virtuous, but to the wicked His inner presence remains clouded.

The essence of shri Krishna is "Fight the battle of life. Let the virtue (goodness, virtuousness, righteousness, morality, ethicalness, uprightness) in you Vanquish the Vice (immoral or wicked behaviour). Any useful work that falls to your lot gives you enough opportunity for self discipline, emulation (Emulation is the effort to act like someone else) and emancipation (liberation).

The divinity within is your ever available guide. Attuning yourself to it , do your job as splendidly as you can. Every hero is obliged to wage the Mahabharat war in and through his own life.

Imitate the life of Sri Ram But Imbibe the instruction of Sri Krishna.

Bhagavad Gita teaches one to equip oneself for the battle of life. Without Self preparation the warfare called life cannot be waged successfully. A battle field like the kurukshetra was therefor chosen as a proper pulpit for delivering this message.

When a human being breaths once, millions of atomic life units are done away with. A growing plant is constantly consuming bacteria in millions. And each bacterium is a life unit by itself. There is no food which is not constituted of organic matter. This means that life subsists on life. To Live is to live out. New forms of life are built at the cost of old ones. Destruction is involved in construction. Unalterable scheme of Nature. Not a moment passes without destruction taking place.
Recognizing this truth in its nakedness is the first step in understanding the plan of nature.

Creation, preservation and destruction are the three phases of ceaseless activity going in nature. These may be termed the triple purpose of cosmos. What is sunrise to one place is sunset to another. It is simultaneously the setting sun as well as rising sun. Birth into a new body is putting an end to the old worn-out body. Seed dies in order to give birth to a seedling. Beings perish in their in their old bodies prior to their reincarnation in new ones. The travel between creation and a destruction is called preservation. Even as the sides of a triangle are interdependent these triple activities are interrelated. If, of these, destruction or death is truly understood the other two become self evident.

It has to be admitted that nature is an extensive slaughter house. Relentlessly she wipes out the unwanted ones. There is science as well as art in this act of nature. The Bhagavad Gita recognize this hard fact and assumes the position of the science of destruction.
The Gita Exhorts, "Do the job that is incumbent on you, as a religious act. All attempt to avoid destruction is futile. A weakling has no place here or hereafter. In a great cosmic plan of action play your part as a hero. Wake up to the reality of this world.
Fight the battle of life. Fear nothing. Do not falter in your duty. At the same time be not a slave to duty either. Perform your duty for its own sake. It is by working in freedom that you rise to the realm of worklessness. To a knowing one, duty such as warfare is as sacred as worship in a sanctuary .

Book of dissension and disruption : Positive service rendered by a wind that bring rain bearing clouds; but a dust storm has only a nuisance value. There are not wanting people who classify Gita with the dust- raising whirlwind. This book is like gunpowder to those who want to create an explosion. It encourage youth to revolt against respected elders.
Really there is no room for confusion of issues in the Gita. The commentators of the Gita were not men of empty talk and purposeless living. In their own way they have been pillars of society. The tree is known by its fruit. No trace of self seeking or exploitation could be found in them. On the other hand culture was enshrined in them, and code of conduct found expression in and through them. When such sterling characters had drawn inspiration from Gita, it can not be easily disposed of, as a book of dissension. Each system of philosophy traces its origin to the Gita, there by claiming sanctity for itself and adding to the glory of the Gita. Various systems of philosophy go to enrich man's spiritual life. Even as Nature is the material for various branches of knowledge, Gita is the source of inspiration for the various system of philosophy.

Support, sustenance and inducement to self fulfillment come constantly and abundance from cosmic self to the individual self.
Preyas : Things that bring prosperity, pleasure, power and glory to life.
Shreyas : All virtue, Strength , self denial and sublimity are born of shreyas. Yoga and spiritual enlightenment are all contain in shreyas.
The scared act of conferring the shreyas does not take place piecemeal. It comes as a sudden outburst of illumination metamorphosing the recipient into a divine being. At the outset this experience may seem to daze the disciple. But worthy of the enlightenment as he become, he gets spontaneously attuned to it. As a newly hatched duckling takes to the water, the enlightened soul identifies itself with the cosmic whole. The upnishads are intended to awaken cosmic consciousness in the aspirant.
One of their revelation runs as follows:"What is beyond the universe is Infinity, what has apparently become universe is Infinity. Infinity alone is in manifested and unmanifested state."
A student who has undergone the required mental purification catches the message in an instant and merges his individual consciousness into cosmic consciousness, which is reality.
The strong and the virile alone are fit for a life of great consequence. Achievements both here and hereafter are born of competence and manly action. Strength nurtures life. Weakness wears it away. Potency drives away disease; debility aggravates it. Virtues and rightness are the outcome of strength. Vice and wickedness have their origin in weakness. Cowardice creates crookedness; it is feeble that resort to foul play. Action born in manliness leads to freedom, and opposite to bondage. Strength and shryas are identical. This is the teaching of Gita.

The Bhagavad Gita Upnishad

If those books are cows, the Gita is their milk. The choice of converting this milk into curds, butter and ghee is again in the hand of all. In a preserved form milk may transported anywhere. Arjun's carving for enlightenment was the immediate cause of this gracious clarification. Love of the calf induces the cow to secrete and yield milk in plenty. Milk may be consumed in proportion to one's digestive power. From the athlete down to the ailing, all can have recourse to it as wholesome food. The utility of Gita is equally all-ranging.
What is already known is infinitesimal, and what is yet to be known is evidently infinite.
Taking this limitation of the human intellect into account, an ancient sage raised a question: "What is it, knowing which, man need make more search of knowledge? What is it, knowing which, the secrets of nature do all become revealed?" Bold and indomitable inquiries were made. The doors of nature were persistently knocking at. Relentless searches ware made within and without. This super human attempt did not go in vain. The sages of yore had met with enormous success in their profound inquiry. They came face to face with truth. They intuited the basis of the elusive and fleeting phenomenal world. The substratum having been contacted, all mysteries got themselves revealed and explained. This knowledge of the substratum is known as Brahma Vidhya.
The purpose of Gita is to impart the Brahma Vidhya , above everything else.
Offering immediate solution to immediate problem is one kind of enlightenment. But when ignorance is rooted out all problems get solved once for all. With the dawn of Brahma Vidhya the mist of nescience vanishes. Sri Krishana chose to impart this supreme knowledge. When recipient becomes worthy and competent, enlightenment inevitably comes from supreme.

Yog Sashtra

Brahma Vidhya is what touches and transform life. It is intensely practical. When applied to life it is called Yoga Sastra.
An efficient man is otherwise called a yogi
The function of yogi is to train the body and the mind.
Here it prepare Arjuna for Yoga . Blessed are the distressed in heart; they shall be comforted in enlightenment. This is the law of life.
All the eighteen yogas contained in the eighteen chapters may be reduced to four - The Karma Yoga, The Raja Yoga, The Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Tradition holds that spiritual life begins with Karma Yoga and goes evolving into another three respectively.
While playing part of charioteer, Sri Krishna reined four white horses yoked into chariot. They symbolise the four yogas yoked to the human career. Those snow white steeds suggest purity as the basis of all yogas. All four Yogas together stimulate life with spirituality. Since Sri Krishna handles all four yogas with equal importance he is called Yogeshwara.

Method of teaching

The teaching of the Gita are as simple as the air we take in and at the same time as profound as the cosmos around us.
It offers inspiration to all cults and creeds, points out the harmony among them, and itself remains supremely above them all.

Yoga Definition: We shell however content ourselves with 2 or 3 definition of It.
1. " Yoga is the very dexterity of work" is very telling statement.
2. "Even mindedness is Yoga" is another equally important definition.
3. "Disentanglement from contact born misery is known as yoga"

In the first 6 chapter it connotes Karma Yoga in all of its aspect. In the course of the second 6 chapters it applies to Bhakti with the numerous implications. The trend of the last 6 chapters is towards the elucidation of Jnana the use of the same word Yoga.
Now we shall take up the word Atman. In the course of first 6 chapters of the book it connotes Existence. In the next 6 chapter this word applies to Bliss in particular, while last 6 chapters it leans towards knowledge. All the salient points are proportionately and exhaustively dealt with. A Clear exhaustive exposition of Existence - Knowledge - bliss or Sat - cit -anandam is the theme of this book.

Sruti & Smruti

For Generations together they have been preserved by accurate verb transmission by an unbroken succession of masters and disciples. Neither of these can be modified or altered. Spiritual tenets are eternal verities.
While Sruti means what is heard, Smruti means what is remembered.
This spiritual laws when applied to life are called the Sanatan dharma- eternal order and righteousness. The Gita may therefore be treated as a manual of the Sanatan dharma. Sanatan Dharma is like the Gold while its varying applications are like its mintage. Among the Smritis the mintage of the Gita is unique in itself.
Life has two aspects- the changeful and changeless. The Bhagvad Gita is master key to both the aspects. For this reason this book is called the Smruti among the Smritis.