The Bhagavad-Gita : the song of the LORD

TheBhagavad-Gita:the song of the LORD Jazmine Colatriano Allison Lindstrom

BACKGROUND • Composed in the first century A.D. • Major Hindu religious text • Part of the Mahabharata, a larger narrative of the Kurukshetra War

Characters • Arjuna: warrior prince and protagonist of the Gita • Krishna: serves as Arjuna’s charioteer and guide • Later reveals himself to be a god and the “creator and destroyer of everything”

Summary • Arjuna and his four brothers, the Pandavas, are the rightful successors to the kingdom of Kurukshetra in northern India.

Arjuna and the four other Pandavas kneeling before Krishna.

Their cousins, the wicked Kaurava brothers, refuse to surrender the throne and thus the two sides prepare for war.

“Krishna and Arjuna, Pandu’s son, sounded their divine conches” (p. 23).

Upon seeing teachers, friends, and family taking up arms against him, Arjuna faces a moral dilemma: to kill loved ones, or to be killed.

“Arjuna saw them standing there: fathers, grandfathers, teachers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, and friends” (p. 24). • “I see no good in killing my kinsmen in battle” (p. 25).

Krishna provides counsel to Arjuna, using Hindu teachings to enlighten and guide him. • Eventually, Krishna, “the god of gods,” reveals “the true majesty of his form” to Arjuna (p. 98, 99).

“Seeing the many mouths and eyes of your great form, its many arms, thighs, feet, bellies, and fangs, the worlds tremble and so do I” (p. 101).

With knowledge and love, Arjuna devotes himself to Krishna and no longer suffers from his moral dilemma. • “Krishna, my delusion is destroyed… I stand here, my doubt dispelled, ready to act on your words” (p. 153).

Hinduism Definitions • Dharma (duty): “sacred duty, order, law” (p. 164). • Karma (action): “one’s role in making one’s own destiny” (p. 163). • Kāma (desire): “sensuous love, emotional feeling of attachment” (p. 164).

Themes

Knowledge: the 7th teaching • Discriminative wisdom is an important theme of the Gita in that Arjuna must distinguish between the transient (body) and the eternal (soul). • Lack of knowledge causes Arjuna’s initial moral conflict.

“Our bodies are known to end, but the embodied self is enduring, indestructible, and immesurable; therefore, Arjuna, fight the battle!” (p. 32). • “Death is certain for anyone born, and birth is certain for the dead; since the cycle is inevitable, you have no cause to grieve!” (p. 33).

Action: the fifth teaching: • Action (karma) must be based on duty (dharma) and one must “be impartial to failure and success” and any other “fruits of action” (p. 36, 37).

“Perform actions, firm in discipline, relinquishing attachment” (p. 36). • “Relinquishing the fruit of action, the disciplined man attains perfect peace” (p. 58).

Love: the 11th teaching • This love is not “sensuous,” but rather unparalleled devotion and “true faith” (p. 37, 111). • Devotion to Krishna is the most important aspect of Hinduism, from which other aspects branch.

“Krishna, my delusion is destroyed, and by your grace… I stand here, my doubt dispelled, ready to act on your words” (p. 153).

“At the time of death, with the mind immovable, armed with devotion… one attains the supreme divine spirit of man” (p. 78).

Epic Qualities

Media Res • The Bhagavad Gita is the sixth book in the war epic, the Mahabharata. • The Gita opens with war already brewing and the conflicts already established between the Pandavas and their cousins.

Vast setting • The Gita spans India with a focus on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. • “It is not only a physical place but is representative of a state of mind” (p. 5).

Epithets • For Arjuna: • “Great Warrior” (p. 33) • “Son of Kunti” (p. 17) • For Krishna: • “Great Soul” (p. 100) • “Lord of Gods” (p. 102) • “Shelter of the Universe” (p. 102)

Cataloguing • “Conches and kettledrums, cymbals, tabors, and trumpets were sounded at once” (p. 22). • “Knowledge means humility, sincerity, nonviolence, patience, honesty, reverence for one’s teacher, purity, stability, self-restraint” (p. 116). • “… a fool cannot escape dreaming, fear, grief, depression and intoxication” (p. 148).

Long, Formal speeches • The Gita is in the form of an on-going dialogue. Krishna responds to Arjuna’s questions with uninterrupted monologue that is sometimes lengthy.

Divine intervention • Krishna intervenes in the war by guiding Arjuna, calling upon him to be “the archer at [his] side” and ultimately controlling the outcome of all human affairs (p. 11).

The cultural hero • Arjuna satisfies the ideals of the Hindu culture and religion after observing Krishna’s teachings. • Arjuna learns to distinguish the transient from the eternal and devotes himself completely to Krishna, fulfilling his Dharma and becoming an ideal Hindu.

“Where Krishna is lord of discipline and Arjuna is the archer, there do fortune, victory, abundance, and morality exist” (p. 154).

A Note on Translation • The Bhagavad-Gita:Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War is a translation by Barbara Stoler Miller from the original Sanskrit language of the piece.

Miller makes note that the epithets are used in this translation for the sole purpose of clarification – most were not in the original text. • The original text was also a quatrain with eight syllables to each line.

Structure • Metric structure varies: • Four-line stanzas of free verse in normal dialogue • Eight-line stanzas appear “at moments of greater intensity” (p. 16).

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The Bhagavad-Gita : the song of the LORD