Bhagavad Gita | A Canonical Text
A spiritual person need not be a recluse. The Union with the divine can be achieved in the midst of worldly affairs. The obstacles to the Union lies not outside us but within us. This is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita teachings in 140 characters.
Among the 3 canonical texts of Hinduism — Upanishads (Essence of Vedas), Brahmasutras (Philosophy & Spiritual ideas of the Upanishads, first written in 500 BCE) and the Bhagavad Gita (Gita) — the Gita has become the most popular or widely quoted. There is always a debate if the Gita is an Upanishad as it references the 4 Vedas just like the other Upanishads do.
Adi Shankara, the revered Theologian & Saint in the 8th century called the Gita as the “collection of the quintessence of all teachings of the Vedas”. The Gita has 18 chapters, 700 verses (some say 701). The first written version started to appear in 5 BCE.
The Gita is set within the epic Mahabharata where Krishna advises Arjuna that as a Kshtriya (warrior clan), it is his duty to fight against injustice to his best abilities and then leave the result in the hand of the Lord. Krishna also speaks on various other topics including
1. Eternal nature of the soul, indivisible and indestructible (Atman)
2. The relationship between the Human Soul (JivAtma) and the Supreme Soul (ParamAtma)
3. The manifestation of the Lord in Human form (Avatar)
4. Re-incarnation of individual souls (re-birth)
5. Liberation from the cycle of birth and death (Moksha)
6. The Yogic paths to such liberation include devotion (Bhakti Yoga), desireless action (Karma Yoga), Meditation (Dhyana yoga) and Wisdom (Jnana Yoga).
Paramahamsa Yogananda (1893–1952) says “The Gita is the perfect answer to the modern age, and any age. Yoga or dutiful action, of non-attachment and of meditation for God Realisation”.
Warren Hastings, India’s first Governor General of the British Empire wrote “The Gita will survive when the British dominion in India shall have ceased to exist, when the British wealth and power it once wielded are lost”
He wrote this in 1784 and stands true even after almost 250 years.
