Bhagavad Gita

Since time immemorial, there have been several religions that have different beliefs especially as far as divinity is concerned. The main religions in the world include Christianity, Islam and the Hindu religion. Every religion has a holy book which acts as a guideline to the followers of that particular religion. The Christians have the Bible as their holy book; the Muslims are guided by the Koran while the Hindu people are guided by the Bhagavad Gita. According to the beliefs of the Hindu people, Krishna is the most holy person and is actually viewed as a divine creature that deserves respect and honor.

According to the Hindu Religion it is not yet clear when the Bhagavad Gita was first written. However scholars indicate that the Bhagavad Gita is quite an ancient book which dates back to 500 BC. The Hindu people view the Bhagavad Gita as a sacred book that ought to be handled and referred as such. The Bhagavad Gita is viewed by the followers of the Hindu religion as Krishna who is the God of the Hindu people talking to them and thus the reason why the book is viewed as a holy book. The texts contained in Bhagavad Gita begin when clans in the ancient Hindu religion begin to fight for power.

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One of the participants in the battle for power was known as Ajuna. When in the battle field, Ajuna suddenly realizes that his rivals and opponents are his own relatives. He is thus confused and therefore decides to talk to Krishna for guidance. All the contents and tests contained in Bhaghavad Gita revolve around the conversations between Krishna and Ajuna. There is one major philosophical issue that attempts to explain several concepts that come out clearly in the Bhaghavad Gita. Some of these concepts that are deeply discussed in the Bhagavad Gita include action, the Supreme Controller, the human soul and the human beings, matter and time.

To begin with Krishna realizes that Ajuna is very confused. In their conversation, Krishna emphasizes the importance of harmony and unity in a society. Krishna tells Ajuna that the human soul unlike the human body is immortal and thus continues to live long after the body dies. In simpler terms, Krishna was trying to encourage Ajuna that even if he is hurt and even killed in the battlefield; he needs not worry as it is only the body that will have died and that the soul will continue to live on.

Ajuna however does not seem to understand clearly what Krishna is telling him and thus opts out of the battle. However just before he withdraws from the battle Krishna warns Ajuna that should he withdraw, he will prevent truth from being discovered. Krishna keeps on with his encouragement to Ajuna helping him get a better understanding of the universe. According to Krishna the war that was about to take place was well in order as it would help bring justice. The Bhagavad Gita has eighteen chapters each of which has a distinct issue or concept that is relevant in the Hindu religion.

The first chapter of Bhagavad Gita begins with Ajuna going to the battle filed with a lot of enthusiasm only for him to realize that his opponents and rivals in the battle are his relatives. This makes Ajuna lose all courage an enthusiasm and opts to withdraw from the battle. In the second chapter Krishna is having a conversation with Ajuna. To begin with he encourages Ajuna by emphasizing the immortality of the human soul and thus tells Ajuna that should he be killed it is only the body that will be killed but the soul will remain intact and thus in essence Ajuna will only have died the physical death.

In addition, Krishna makes it clear that for the purpose of justice to be realized it is of paramount importance that Ajuna keeps on with the battle. In chapter three of the Bhagavad-Gita Gita Ajuna is still hesitant and states that since knowledge is preferable than action then he understands not why he should participate in the battle which is only action. However, Krishna emphasizes on the need for Ajuna to participate in the battle citing the issue of justice that is tied to the battle. It is at this point that Krishna reveals the importance of Yoga.

He even explains to Ajuna the best position while meditating as this is what Yoga entail. Unlike the other religions the Hindu religion has a particularly strong honor for the Bhagavad-Gita. So, just what makes this great work the gospel of Hinduism? There could be several reasons why the followers of the Hindu religion carry the Bhagavad-Gita with great weight. However the major reason for this is that the Bhagavad-Gita contains of directs words spoken by Krishna the holy of holies according to the Hindu religion.

Actually as mentioned earlier, mush of the content of the Bhagavad-Gita is a conversation between Krishna the Supreme God of the Hindu people and Ajuna a disciple of Krishna. The Bhagavad-Gita has a total number of seventy verses most of which are said to be direct quotations form Krishna himself. Much of what Krishna speaks to Ajuna who was an intimate and strict disciple of Krishna revolves around the day to day life and the definition of a human being in relation to the body, the soul and the spirit.

Scholars indicate that from the various verses in the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna emphasized greatly on the mortality of the human body and the immortality of the human soul. Although it is an issue that is subject to discussion, it has always been argued that among the major religious books which are the Bible, The Koran and the Bhagavad-Gita, it is only the Bhagavad-Gita that has explained in depths yet so profoundly the realization of the human self especially in relation to the major components that make up a human being which are the body, the soul, the spirit and the mind.

The Bhagavad-Gita goes further to relate the various aspects of the human being aforementioned with nature and the Supreme Being who is known as Krishna according to the religious beliefs of the Hindu people. Since time immemorial, people from India who are known to be ardent followers of the Hindu religion have always referred the Bhagavad-Gita as the source of knowledge that is spiritual in nature considering that most of the words in the Bhagavad-Gita are direct from the most Supreme and Sacred Being, Krishna himself.

It is through the Bhagavad-Gita that human beings are able to reflect on their lives and are able to establish their purpose in this world. By explaining the scientific manner in which a human being can come to the realization of the self, Krishna goes further to explain the manner in which one is able to establish and cement a relationship with God after having realized oneself first. Another very major and unique aspect of the Bhagavad-Gita is that it has no particular reference to the Hinduism as a religion.

It is thus very accommodative unlike most other religions and thus can apply to every person notwithstanding the fact that they are not followers of Hinduism. This is an aspect that is not common with other religions which always view their religion as superior to others hence excluding all those that do not share a common faith with them. The Bhagavad-Gita just like other religious books has millions of teachings that are spiritual in nature and is approached from a spiritual point of view. This holy book has no relation whatsoever with secularism and has no aspect which is secular in nature.

The Bhagavad-Gita has explained in depths the various fundamentals and essentials of the spiritual life enabling one to understand clearly the truth or the various concepts of truth that are tied to religion and the holy scriptures. According to scholars, the main emphasis of the Bhagavad-Gita is to help human beings have a clear concept of what divinity is all about and also helps a human being to relate themselves and eventually establish a relationship with the divine creature who is the Supreme God, Krishna.

Yet another emphasis that is found is the Bhagavad-Gita is God’s love and what a human being can do to deserve or merit God’s love and eventually attain it. According the Bhagavad-Gita the Supreme God who is known as Krishna manifests to human brings in various ways. In other words Krishna sometimes incarnates himself to be able to reach the level of a human being thus enabling human beings to understand him better. There are various quotes from the Bhagavad-Gita which explain in great depths the concern of divinity of the day to day life of a human being.

One quote is that Delusion is an end product of anger. When one’s mind is full of delusion then it only means that such a mind is bewildered and a person is no loner able to reason. Failure to reason leads to one making many mistakes some of which are very grievous in nature. In other words Krishna is warning human beings against anger. He is simply putting it that when one is angry one is not able to reason and thus one must control their anger in order to ensure that they do not make mistakes that they are likely to regret later

Yet another very common quotation is when Krishna was encouraging Ajuna his disciple and he told him “grieve not. For I will liberate you from all sins” (Srimad Geeta 18:66). What is the meaning of the word Bhagavad and where did it come from? The literal meaning of the word Bhagavad is songs of God and refers to various incarnations of the Supreme God to human beings. Unlike any other holy scriptures the Bhagavad-Gita enable human beings relate the concepts of humanity with the concepts of divinity.

As mentioned earlier there are five main concepts that the Bhagavad –Gita emphasizes on which include action, truth, devotion, knowledge and meditation. Every concept is greatly emphasized and human beings are required to follow strictly all the five concepts to be able to have self realization and use it to understand divinity and establish a relationship with the Supreme God, Krishna. God in this case who is Krishna have explained even the basics in which one should approach the divinity concept.

For instance at one point Ajuna seeks to know the manner in which one should mediate upon him (Krishna) and Krishna gives a detailed explanation of how one ought to go about it. For instance, Krishna explains that when a human being is mediating upon him (Krishna) for liberation, he must sit firm and then gaze at the tip of his nose ensuring that he or she does not look around to avoid disruptions. The next step is to purify the passage of air by inhaling, retaining and exhaling the air slowly but firmly. This should be done three times a day and every time this should be done ten times.

This is where the whole concept of Yoga which is very common in India and other Hindu countries started form. Yoga is thus seen as a way of communicating with a Supreme Being known as Krishna by concentrating deeply thus eliminating the element of disruption and disturbance. According to the followers of the Hindu faith Krishna is so holy that one ought not to be disrupted while communicating with him. It is for this reason that Yoga is extremely important as it enable one concentrate while communicating with Krishna. Words:1957 Bibliography Easwaran Eknath (2007) Bhagavad Gita, London, Nilgiri Press.

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