Geeta Jayanti – 3

मासानां मार्गशीर्षोऽहम्...

Masanaām Margsheershoham

(Am Margsheersh amongst the months)…

Today is the day when the divine song Shreemad Bhagwad Geeta was sung on the battlefield of Kurukshetra…

A song of reckoning between –

Arjun, the warrior and Krishna, his charioteer…

Arjun, the seeker and Krishna, the guide…

Arjun, the friend and Krishna, the divine friend…

Arjun, the disciple and Krishna, his teacher…

But the Geeta begins with the question of Dhritrashtra (the blind king – blind in love for his kids) asking his charioteer Sanjay

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः |
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ||1/1||

O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?

It is no coincidence that all 4 characters of the Geeta are related in as a warrior and his charioteer. Both Arjun and Dhritrashtra are warriors and both Krishna and Sanjay are their charioteers respectively. Just as the charioteer guides the chariot through the battlefield, so does the God and His song, Shreemad Bhagwad Geeta, guides us through our battlefield of life.

Coming back to the reference to the first Shlok of Geeta, it conveys the essence of the whole battle. मामकाः पाण्डव (mine and yours), my sons and the sons of Pandu. Similarly our life is full of mine and yours (not mine / other). We are fighting this battle and Geeta guides us through it. Geeta explains the beautiful concept of “Dharma”- the way, the thought, the concept of deciding between mine and yours. Had Dhritrashtra not fallen for this difference between his own sons and his brother Pandu’s sons, the battle wouldn’t have happened! So, in a way, Dhritrashtra is one of the many reasons for Humanity to be blessed by the divine guidance of the Geeta. And maybe so the first Shlok of the whole song begins with him. Never to be heard again during the whole song. It also leads us to understand a beautiful word ‘Relationships‘.

Mine and yours can be understood in many ways. One of the ways that Geeta teaches me and I understand it is that we are all one as the divine manifests within us all. So we cannot be two different entities but two parts of the same entity. And so he exists everywhere and within everything. HE is OMNIPRESENT.

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो
मत्त: स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च |
वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो
वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम् ||15/ 15||

I am seated in the hearts of all living beings, and from Me come memory, knowledge, as well as forgetfulness. I alone am to be known by all the Vedas, am the author of the Vedānt, and the knower of the meaning of the Vedas.

So He is seated everywhere. Nothing can exist without Him. Nothing is different from Him. We can say that we are just His reflections. So how can it be mine and yours.

And readers this can be a way to understand the world and best solution towards the problems faced by mankind especially about relationships. Even the last Shlok of Geeta conveys the same

यत्र योगेश्वर: कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धर: |
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ||18/ 78||

(Wherever there is Shree Krishna, the Lord of all Yog, and wherever there is Arjun, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be unending opulence, victory, prosperity, and righteousness. Of this, I am certain.)

Here too if we understand that both He (Yogeshwar Krishna) and myself (Arjun) are no different as the word यत्र is used for both. So they are together at the same place, that is the Atman and the jeev are the same place. And once we understand this then there is unending prosperity, opulence and righteousness and so is victory.

On this day, we bow down to the greatest Charioteer who came to guide Humanity about the most beautiful and cherished moments of its lives – ‘Relationships’.

It isnt that Geeta is explaining only relationships, it has many facets, but leave that for another time.

Best wishes on the occasion of Geeta Jayanti.

Also the festival of Christmas coincides today. So wishing all of my readers a very Happy Christmas too. Will come up with a blog on Christmas tomorrow.

Till then

Jay Shri Krishna!

Shree Krishna Sharanam Mamah!