Aksara Bhagavad Gita: Imperishable Bhagavad Gita |
Haribakth & Vaishnavi |
Mark My Book / Imprint Book Mitra | 25 Dec 2020 | ISBN 9788194416791 |
pp 596 | 899

 

‘For the first time, a book on Hermeneutics of the Gita, presented in a polemic style’ (Blurb)

There are more than 300 translations of the Bhagavad Gita, the Song Celestial, from the Sanskrit original into the Indian and Western Languages. This ‘Imperishable Treatise’ has been interpreted, commented upon, and lectured upon by thousands of great savants, scholars, and intellectuals hailing from all the nations, religions, and creeds. Yet people go on writing on this spiritual text because of its eternal values.

While the Trimata Acharyas – Sankara, Madhva, Ramanuja – have written the most authoritative commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita in a traditional way, quoting extensively from the Srutis, Smritis, and Puranas; modern savants like Sri Aurobindo, Tilak, Vinoba, and Gandhi have commented upon its relevance to the current times.  

Essence of The Gita

The Gita is the most ‘Tolerant Text.’ It prescribes various ways but ultimately it says each one can have their own way. To the political leaders it is Karma Yoga; to the Vedantins it is Jnana Yoga; and to the devotees it is Bhakti Yoga. Thus the Gita is of Triune significance. And one can take any one of them as the primary path and the remaining two as ancillary.

The Dvaitis are followers of Madhva Acharya and believe in Karma (Mat karma krit). The Advaitis are followers of Sankara Acharya and believe in Jnana (Mat paramah). The Visishtha Advaitis are followers of Ramanuja Acharya and believe in Bhakti (Mat bhaktah). People not attached to any school/ sect believe in ‘Sarva bhuteshu nirvairah’ (No hatred or enmity against any person or being) or in ‘Sarva Bhuta Hiteshu’ (Welfare of every being). There is no conflicting in following any of the above paths. Paths may be different, but the goal is one and the same.

Mat karma krut mat-paramah, mad-bhaktah sanga varjitah |
Nirvairah sarva bhuteshu, yah sa maameti Pandava || —BG (Bhagavad Gita), 11—55

[Oh Pandava (Arjuna)! He who performs all his duties for My sake, depends upon Me, is devoted to Me, has no attachment, and is free from malice towards any being, reaches Me.]

As such the Gita is an eternal fountain of ‘Divine Ambrosia.’  This is truly Imperishable and continues to attract the attention of one and all and makes them contemplate and act in their own way.

The book under review, Aksara Bhagavad Gita: Imperishable Bhagavad Gita, authored by Haribakth & Vaishnavi is not “Just Gita”. It is Gita and beyond – what is said and what is not said in it.

Ravindra Rao, the ‘Haribakth,’ is an I.T professional (Retired), who served in a public sector bank for long and imbibed the modern communication technology, computerisation, modalities of inquiry commission etc. and presented this voluminous work in a Polemic Style—based on a hermeneutic approach, perhaps the first of its nature. This modern technique of presentation is sure to attract the younger generation.

Surely this book is not for the beginners. Unless the reader has studied at least half a dozen texts of explication and interpretation on the Gita, he cannot follow this dissertation and digest the contents in it, for the book doesn’t either quote any Sloka from the original text or from any conventional commentary or present the author’s own interpretation on it. The author has adopted the ‘Self-Learning-Study Material Style’ of the Distance Education. We find debates, discussions, dissections and dialogues between some characters woven around a thin story. We find tables, flow of statements, controversies etc in this book. A questionnaire with 81 subjects / controversies, raised in the discussions, including the possible verdicts, is included at the beginning, to be answered by the readers who are co-opted jury members of this research study.

The story is woven around Justice Parthasarathy (a professor), Haripriya (the lead), and Christina (a student of the ‘Hindu University of America, Florida’ who came to India under an exchange programme for completing her project on ‘The Gita’).  Sudipta (Trikala Jnani), Shubha (SA), Veena (a proud Hindu), Sandhya (SJ), Pushpa, Tulasi, Srilata, Maheswari, Suhasini belong to the ‘Dharma Rakshak Group.’  There are other groups too viz. God is Great, Disbeliever’s group, and a Non Aligned group too consisting of several students. These students’ groups under the coordination / guidance / supervision of the Professor go on discussing, at times disgustingly. Acrimonious court scenes, threatening to clip the tongue, Judge adjourning the proceedings and walking out to his chambers to cool down his anger etc. are enacted in the course of the following discussions.

Dharma Kshetra & Kuru Kshetra

Dharma kshetre Kuru Kshetre samaveta yuyustsavah |
Maamakaah Paandavaaschaiva kim akurvata Sanjaya || —BG, 1—1

[Sanjaya! Gathered on the holy land of Kurukshetra, eager to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?]

The central teaching of the Gita is conveyed in the very first sloka, as above. When the ‘kshetra’, that is ‘Dharma kshetra’, is strong enough to perform the dharmas, or virtues and meritorious deeds, then—‘Kuru’—perform those deeds. Why should you do them? ‘Mamakaah’ versus ‘Paandavaaschaiva’ points to a seminal conflict. In this context ‘Mamakaah’ denotes ‘Mamakaara’ and ‘Ahankaara’ – subjective attachment and egotism ‘My & I’—which are ‘Rajasic’ and ‘Tamasic’ in nature. The words ‘Pandava’ and ‘Arjuna’ represent the ‘Sattvic’ quality –absolutely pure. The conflict between Mamakaara and Paandava makes a mess of your being, “Kim-Akurvat” and fouls the springs of dharmic action. Therefore, this is the time when we should act in accordance with dharma, as prescribed in the sastras. That is what Jagat-Guru Sri Krishna preaches in the Bhagavad Gita.

Emphasising the sastra, the Lord says, “Let sastra be thy authority in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Knowing the scriptural law, thou shouldst do thy duty (work) in this world according to it.  Tasmaat Saastram Pramaanam Te.” The teaching of the Gita is not intended for Arjuna alone. The teaching is universal and unquestionable. Arjuna represents the best in the humanity engaged in the field of action, thirsting for knowledge, ready to receive the knowledge—the knowledge of the right course of action.

Majority of the readers of the Gita firmly believe that it is a sacred text expounded by the Lord Himself and is unquestionable and undebatable by our logic. For such vast majority of readers, the present text “Akshara Bhagavad Gita”, maybe unpalatable, as it is full of debate, discussion and doubting. But it is a new venture to be welcomed whole heartedly, as the Lord has pronounced –

Adhyaatma vidyaa vidyaanaam vaadah pravadataam aham || — BG, 10 – 32

[Of all knowledge, I am the knowledge of the soul (metaphysics); among disputants, I am the right type of discussion.]

The book is demarcated into 18 sections, akin to the eighteen chapters of the Gita. They are named – K-1 ‘Gita v/s Guru’; K-2 ‘Semantics v/s Concept’; K-3 ‘God is Supreme’; K-4 ‘Kshara v/s Akshara’; etc. etc. K-1, K-2 etc mean Kurukshetra-1, Kurukshetra-2.

K-1 ‘Gita v/s Guru’
Greatness of Guru

Tat viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevayaa |
Upadekshyanti te jnaanam jnaaninah tattva darsinah || —BG, 4 – 34

[Understand the true nature of that Knowledge by approaching seers of Truth. If you prostrate at their feet, render them service, and question them with an open and guileless heart, those wise seers of Truth will instruct you in that Knowledge.]

Jnanam is moksham—Liberation. It is our natural form, which is akin to the Divine. The goal of all the sacrifices or ‘Yajnas’, is reaching the Divine, just like all the rivers merge in the ocean – ‘Nadeenaam saagaro gatih.’ This realisation should be learnt from the competent Guru, who has experienced it personally. One who is truly desirous of learning should approach the Guru most humbly. Such ‘Sishyaas’, learners will realise that the internal “Paramaartha Jnaanam”  is much superior to  the “External Karmaacharana,” which is tedious, time consuming, and expensive. You will get this wisdom by prostration and by questioning most humbly and serving the ‘Godly Guru.’ This ‘Jnana’ of Liberation, cannot be acquired by dint of mental effort. It is to be received from the competent Guru, one who has already experienced this wisdom and is living in ‘Himself.’ A deep bond, a personal relationship is to be established between the teacher and the taught – the Guru and the Sishya.  “Na Guror Adhikam” – None   is greater than Guru. The noble Guru, like a duster erases all the unnecessary things from our minds (black boards), and facilitates etching of the ‘Absolute and Imperishable Truth’—that is “Vaasudeva Sarvam Iti” on our minds.

K-4 ‘Imperishable & Perishable’
Gita & Algebra

In the chapter- K-4, ‘Imperishable and Perishable’ in this book, there is a novel discussion. Haripriya compares Gita with Algebra. She says, “Just like in Algebra, Gita too is about understanding patterns, relations, and functions and understanding relationships and analyze the change in various contexts. Applications of both are used in the real-life world, but in the case of Gita, it addresses real-world after-life part too” (p 229). “Like algebraic thinking, Gita thinking requires skill sets of recognizing patterns and developing generalizations but this is for humans, for God already has that knowledge of all, past, present and future, He gave us Gita by incorporating all His patterns in the form of generalizations. We, mortals, need not think, suffice it to identify the patterns and generalizations and act accordingly. Like Algebraic reasoning, God has already reasoned out problems and solutions and generalized them and put it in the Gita” (p 229).

As a student of Biology, I am allergic to Mathematics. More so to Algebra and I am not competent to comment on this. However clubbing Gita and Algebra is quite unique, perhaps the first of its kind in scriptural literature! Mathematicians alone can have a say on it!

K-6 “Earth – Dukhalaya”

In K-6, Haripriya states, “Earth is the residence of miseries (Prison). The residents of earth’s planet are always afflicted by miserable conditions. Hence, the prime endeavour of any intelligent person should be to get out of this prison” (p 263). She further clarifies that, “Earth is a ‘Karmabhumi,’ a place where we perform activities that offer results, be it good or bad, unlike heaven or hell, wherein they go to reap the consequences of their actions.”

Yes, true it is.  The ‘Atharva Veda,’ praising the glory of the Mother Earth, says the same. Mother Earth is ‘Kshama, the tolerance, bearer of burdens, more so of the sinners. It is ‘Karmabhumi,’ place for evolution and progress. In the graded series of world, earth is the lowest, but out of this earth alone basic foundation of the ‘stair-worlds’ evolve and grow. ‘Evolving-Being’ is born on this very Earth. His nourishment is derived from Earth’s soil. Opportunities and ingredients of man’s progress are provided on the Mother Earth alone, not in other worlds which are static, with no scope of change – with fixed plan. Earth is the chosen centre of the Divine; to the past and future Earth holds the key. In the heart of the earth there is immortal principle, and psychic soul in evolution. Salutations to Thee Mother Earth. True Vaishnavas pray to be born again and again on this divine earth, so that they can worship His Divine Feet, with the greatest devotion (Daasya Bhakti). Even Gods are bound by their karma. They are not happy all the while. Take for instance Indra, who is perpetually worried of losing power. How many times He was driven out to forests by the demons! What happened to Dhruva, the greatest among the devotees? He sought a “Higher Position,” knowingly or unknowingly. The Lord granted it. For thirty six thousand years he was tied up to the throne, and then sent to a place higher, behold! Polaris – an envious position celestial! A glittering star to be gazed at and wondered for aeons to come! What did he gain? Not a place at the Lotus Feet of the Lord!

In chapter 32 the readers are taken on a tour to Kolhapur and a pilgrimage to Dwaraka and Kurukshetra—the “Field of War between Pandavas and Kauravas”, which is the most appropriate ‘Finis’ to the “Aksara Bhagavad Gita”, of the Haribakth,  Ravindra Rao, as a “Mangalaacharana”.

The Verdict

 In chapter 33, the verdict of the student groups submitted in a sealed cover, reads thus –

“We the students playing the role of jury understand the solemn responsibility thrust upon us by our beloved Guru, Prof. Parthasarathy. We have dissected and discussed at lengths about the same. As jury verdict needs to be unanimous, it called for drawing of innate strength from the deep recess of our hearts to subordinate our own view points to the collective view point without compromising on our individual opinion. Most of us have been traditionally brought up with strong Indian values inculcated not withstanding western education including our dabbling in LAW. We find that most of the issues have been corroborated with evidence of different orders and met the standards of legal scrutiny applied in the realm of spirit and spiritual scrutiny in the legal sense. About our verdict; we are unanimous in our opinion” (p 575).

Yes, The Bhagavad Gita is a “Svatah PramaaNa” (innately standard or authoritative), as it is spoken by the very Lord Sri Krishna, the “Jagad Guru.”

Na Aham Karta—Harih Karta

As a humble devotee of Sri Hari and a True Vaishnava, the author “Haribakth”, concludes his endeavour thus: “Wasn’t it Gita that delivers judgement and not he Mr. Parthasarathy?”

True it is, for who are we to judge upon the Gita which is a “Vade Mecum” – the Crisis Hand Book, which sees “Man in God,” and “God in Man (Mayi te, teshu cha api aham)? Almighty is neither a personal God, residing in an imaginary heaven nor the absolute of the philosophical abstraction. God is the sempiternal source of the Cosmic Energy mirrored in every manifest being’s heart.

Thus in the book under review, Aksara Bhagavad Gita, – Gunas, Sacrifices, Faith, Rituals, Mind-and-Machinations, God-is-one, Cause-and-effect are discussed and debated by groups of students in the presence of their preceptor (Prof. Parthasarathy), as a coordinator and judge. No doubt all these things were explained in detail in our traditional commentaries on the Gita.

Tremendous efforts must have gone into making this voluminous book a reality, and the authors deserve hearty congratulations. And it is further enriched with illustrations in Book-4 by Vaishnavi, a designer by profession. The brilliant cover page too is to her credit.

Considering the need of infallibility of books of devotional, spiritual and epistemological importance, it is hoped that it would be freed of errors, in its next edition. A few are pointed out here.

“A story is woven around the narrative, it is not pure Gita” (Back cover). In place of “it is not pure Gita” it could read as “without reproducing the text of Gita.”

“Each Sloka in Vishnusahasra Nama has100 meanings” (p 185). Here ‘Sloka’ be replaced with “Nama” or “Naama”.

“In the realm of language, English has just 26 alphabets” (p 250). May it be recast as “In the realm of language, the English alphabet has just 26 letters”. This mistake is repeated in page 251 too.

On a constructive note, the book also could perhaps be reduced to half of its size, say about 300 pages, by deleting the redundant conversations simulating the court scenes.

The novelty of this book is, it is presented in a polemic style with logical discussion by young minds. The readers, who are co-opted as “Jury Members,” are asked to mail their own views/ verdicts to:  justicesarathy@gmail.com

Note:

The slokas and their meanings quoted, at a few places with minor alterations in transliteration or punctuation, in the review are from either The Bhavadgita or The Song Divine (With Sanskrit Text and English Translation), Gita Press, Gorakhpur, 35^th Reprint 2011, ISBN 81-293-0243-8 or The Gitamrut, (Nectarine Capsules), R R Gandikota, Muse India, 2020.