The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita-1.6

02/08/2018
Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita-6.
6.
The Bhagavadgita is also considered as an essence of all the scriptures—Sarva-Shastramayi Gita. It is said many a time that all the Shastras, all the lessons that we can have anywhere can be found here in some form. It is an esoteric, secret teaching concerning the reality behind things and it does not cater merely to a sentiment that is attached to appearances. It is intended to do us good in the ultimate sense of the term and not merely to satisfy our imagination by temporarily stimulating an emotion. It is also not an academic or theoretical message or gospel concerning the nature of the Absolute, for, it is, at the same time—and this is a special character, again—a practical guideline for the purpose of treading the path to the realisation of this ultimate reality.

It is, therefore, a ‘Yoga-Shastra’, not only a Brahmavidya. We will find very few texts which combine these two aspects of teaching. It is not an emphasis that is laid on only one side of our life, but all the sides are equally balanced. It is a theory and a practice; and practice is preceded by theory. The comprehension of the technique to be employed in any particular line of action is called theory. And when the theory is grasped, we know how to implement it in our daily life; that implementation is practice. So, here we have Brahmavidya and Yoga-Shastra, the science of the Absolute and the practical teaching on Yoga, which is the art of coming in contact with the Absolute.

The Gita is, moreover, something delightfully wonderful and more incapable of ordinary imagination than what we have already noticed. It is a conversation between God and man, which meaning is conveyed by the phrase ‘Krishnarjuna Samvada’ in the colophon. Krishna and Arjuna are taken as occasions for bringing into highlight the relationship that exists between the Absolute and the relative. The epic has a special artistic grandeur and beauty of its own. That is the glory of a drama, and you enjoy it, though the enjoyment part of it has behind it a teaching, a moral or a lesson to be conveyed.

To be continued ..