BHAGAVAD GITA (English version) - Hindu's holy text

Om kam vinayaka nama

For the initial details of the text: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita

CHAPTER 1 - Arjuna's Conversion

1. Dhrtarastra said:
O Sanjaya! what indeed did my people and the followers of the pandavas do after having assembled in the holy land of Kuruksetra, eager to join battle ?

2. Sanjaya said:
Then seeing the army of the Pandavas arrayed in battle order, King Duryodhana for his part approached the teacher Drona and spoke to him the following words:

3. O Teacher! Behold this great army of the sons of pandu, arrayed in battle order by your talented disciple, the son of Drupada.

4. Here ( in the army ) are many brave bow-men of note who are equal to Bhima and Arjuna in battle - great car-warriors like Yuyudhana, Virata and Drupada;

5. Dhrstaketu, Cekitana and the brave king of Kasi; Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Saibya the best of men;

6. The powerful Yudhamanyu, the brave Uttamauja, the son of Subhadra, and the sons of Draupadi - all these are indeed noted car-warriors.

7. O best of Brahmanas, I shall mention for your information the names of the distinguished leaders of our army.

8. Yourself, Bhisma and Karna, the victorious Krpa, Aswatthama, Vikarna and Jayadratha the son of Somadatta.

9. These and many more brave men, who are ready to lay down their lives for my sake and who fight with various types of weapons, are present here . All of them are seasoned warriors.

10. Though numerically superior, inadequete is the army of ours defended by Bhisma, while theirs guarded by Bhima is adequate.

11. Therefore do ye all protect Bhisma remaining in appropriate positions in your respective divisions.

12. Cheering him up, the valiant grandfather Bhisma, the oldest of the Kurus, sounded a lion-roar loudly and blew his conch-shell horn.

13. Thereupon, conchs, kettle-drums, tabors, trumpets, and cowhorns all blared out suddenly causing a tremendous sound.

14. Then Sri Krsna and Arjuna, seated in a great chariot with white horses yoked to it, blew their celestial conch-shell horns.

15. Sri Krsna blew his conch Panchjanya, Arjuna blew Devadatta, and Bhima of terrible deeds sounded his great conch Paundra.

Why does the book have to use war to convey its meaning?

War - Edwin Starr

I was being facetious. I have the book and have read it a few times. Perhaps some day we will stop defining ourselves by the wars we fight.

@mooky, I explain you later today 'How and why exceptionally preachings of hinduism took place in the war field, and that too against the family members, friends, and the teachers of martial arts, finally, on what grounds, krishna-9th incarnation of lord.vishnu preach to war against the wrong and reasoning them? etc ,. Infact, war in kurushetra was last choice of authority. krishna himself went as messenger for compromise with them. Even masters of gauravas like drona, bhisma were tried their best to convince duriyothana , to give their country back. but, due to the revenge and hurts done by bhima , dhuriyodana was arranged the situation for war. Thus it happened . Karna is the leading warrior, even lord cannot kill him. but, how lord used tactics to kill him for demonstrating, dharma. etc., War is the last choice of authority. It was done. it is the fight between two biggest kingdom. but almost all kingdom of india at that time involved in the war. war happened around 18 days.

@martijn, thats not story. thats a legend and history. please correct those idea. This happened around 3000b.c. Even today modern world the war is not so unusual.

Hello martijn,

when you keep saying it is story, it is equal to saying that the story of jesus is also a mythological story. can you submit here the evidences for the existence of jesus. but i can submit the archeological evidence on ramayana and mahabharata. THE event took place at 3000b.c. Accordingly hindu's calendar was made as that was the end of dvapara yuga. now running is 5012 plus kaliyuga. but this was written as a script at gupta period around 300b.c. This is where , you appers to confusing yourself.
even NASA gathered the evidence of ramayayana events as they have detected the bridge of 9000b.c. so, try to give evidence before you argue on religious and scientific facts.
http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/vedic-astrology-jyotisha/316469-scientists-researchers-confirm-mahabharata.html

Hello mooky,

I Wonder that whether you have habit of being facetious on religious books. Let me say few facetious part of bible here. 1. lord created the light first followed by sun. 2. world is flat, not spherical 3. He created the sun on third day. i wonder how he calculated 3rd day in absence of sun. like wise many . . . .

The most funny thing is that, bible is been modified century after century by pope depending on the scientific growth. but, Any sacred text in hindus has been never modified by any authorities as it ever remains scientific all the time. The critics comes to argue only when they know the things superficially about the fact. In varagavadhar- vishnu saves the world. in that it has clearly mentioned that world is spherical in shape and it is demonstrated in ancient hindu's sculptures as well. Ancient Indian astrologers are being the best evidence for this fact as they were aware of the speed , position and location of every planets long before the time of thalamy, and galilio.

Secondly, the video which you presented above can be allowed to see only in some particular countries. so it is unavailable in our country. if you can convey that message here, it would be great for further discussions.

Thirdly, You need to know that Religious does not mean that giving only the ideas of do's and dont's. A historical happening can be the cause for the religion. For example, The birth of jesus is cause for the concept christianity. Their ancestors were jews. Hence, it remains derivative religion. but, hinduism is the independent religion. It explains about 64 total arts, divinations of all kind, cosmology, hymns, and pantheism, also monotheism. Also it is the religion introduced meditation to the world. It has detailed every aspect of life including sex. you argue here why this message was convayed in the war field.

I ask you here "when you go for consultation?". when you are in problem, you go for consultation. Arjuna, who had 14year exile , had the situation to fight against their family members. Thus, he looses his brave and remain in emotional turmoil. hence the conversation begin. You appears to be primitive in understanding this. you need to know the mahabharatha history before reading gita. then you can understand gita better.

(Chapter continues. . . )

16. Raja Yudhisthira, the son of Kunti, blew his conch Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva, Sughosa and Manipuspaka respectively.

17. The great archer , king of Kasi, the mighty car-warrior Sikhandi and Dhrstadyumna and invincible satyaki;

18. The king of Drupada, the sons of Draupadi, the mighty armed son of Subhadra - all these, O king, sounded their conch shell horns again and again everywhere.

19. That tumultuous uproar, resounding in the sky and over the land, pierced the hearts of the followers of Dhrtarastra.

20-21. O King! Arjuna , the Pandava-leader with the banner crest of a monkey, on seeing the followers of Dhrtarastra arrayed for battle and the clash of weapons about to start, held up his bow and said the following words to Sri Krsna:

21-22 . Arjuna said: O Acyuta! Please station my chariot between the two armies so that I may have a view , on the eve of this battle , of all those standing ready to fight, learn who all are the persons with whom I have to contend.

Note: In the few previous slokas, we could see the different conchs and which were blew by leading heroes of the war before the battle begin. Here it is noteworthy that how much hindus give importance to conch. Even today , hindu's practice to blow the conch during the funeral. In some temples also, blowing the conch is been practiced for temple rituals. Note the two things here. 1. Significances of conch in hinduism. 2. different varieties of conch. A hindu see the loop finger prints as a manifestation of the conch. Hence, it is termed as sankha(sanskrit term for conch). secondly, Conch is being the top most valuable pictorial sign in Indian palmistry. Again it is the manifestation of conch. It is said that Lord . Krishna, incarnation of vishnu had conch sign in his palm. Even ancient indians use to arrange conch shaped military formation in combat to attack the enemies. To antidote this attack of military formation, opponent should use another particular shaped military formation. like eagle, wheel, snake etc., This way , Hindus were well known the philosophy of the relation between the matter and idealism. and They have uniqueness of their ideas in everything which they experience in life. we can see how the palmar dermatoglypics resembles the curls and lining of sea-shell and conch. This is one of the example which explains how indians are having uniqueness in their philosophies.

Thank you stalin.v

It was not my intent to disparage a holy book. Only war. And, after thousands of years, in spite of having holy books, we still have war.

But, again, thank you. I realize now that it is my problem and I need not bring it up.

mooky wrote:Thank you stalin.v

It was not my intent to disparage a holy book. Only war. And, after thousands of years, in spite of having holy books, we still have war.
But, again, thank you. I realize now that it is my problem and I need not bring it up.

Hello mooky and patti,

War is not a bad part of the world. The goverment of any country is based on their development in financial and military forces. No country can survive without their military force. Sacred texts are not attributed to avoid war. But, it is to demonstrate righteousness. Every species in this world fight for it's rights. Humans are not exceptional in this one. Love your enemy is being the leading religious rule in all religion. Yet, It is a rule that divine spirit fight against the evil and vice versa . However war is being the last choice of the authority(god) , to demonstrate the righteousness. Including hinduism , every
religion asserts love. However, War is the another language of authority and remain inevitable.

you can see from the following link where you can find how hinduism sees 'war'
http://www.goddess.ws/kali-defeats-the-demons.html

Thanks Stalin!
I just have to share a comic I read this morning right after I read your post!

Hello patti,

I'm too much wonder and interested to know what really happened to houston!

In your comic, It would fit if you replace the word 'houston' into 'lybia' and 'iraq' .

These must not to come under the title war, which supposedly based on definite principles . Instead, being dominating tragedies.

Agreed. Houston can be replaced with anywhere and it is most likely about domination. Resistance to being dominated leads to war.

Patti wrote:
Resistance to being dominated leads to war.

This where we see the requirement of the war! The war, conducted by abraham lincon inside the country, against the disgusting act of american's domination over the millions of black negros(so called slaves), is based on one of the such reasons. Unless, lincon did it, till today, whites will have dominate blacks brutally, by keeping them as slaves. Here we could reason well and see the justice of war .
similarly, when pandavas were tactfully betrayed by duriyothana, they were sent for 14year exile, with the promise of return back their kingdom after the punishment period. but, Duriyodhana's revenge has not ended even after the punishment period of pandavas. There clashes comes, followed by fighting for their rights happening. Interestingly, lord supports the limited army of pandavas and demonstrating the righteous. So, War is being pre-condition for the solution, as a rule, a last choice of authority.

(Chapter continues. . . )

23. Let me see all those who have arrived to favour the evil-minded son of Dhrtarsatra in war and are standing ready to join battle.

24-25. Sanjaya said:

O King Dhrtarastra! Sri Krsna, to whom Arjuna addressed these words, stationed that most splendid of chariots at a place between the two armies, confronting Bhisma, Drona and all those chiefs, and said: "O Arjuna! See these men of the Kuru horde assembled for battle."

26-27. There he saw standing in both the armies - fathers , grand-fathers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, comrades, father-in-law and bosom friends. Seeing all these kinsmen arrayed, Arjuna was overcome with great pity, and said sorrowing:

28-29. Arjuna said: Seeing these relatives standing eager to join battle, my limbs are giving way, my mouth is parching. I get trembling of the body and horripilations.

30. My bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand. My skin too is burning. I find it impossible to stand firm, and my mind is, as it were. reeling.

31. O Kesava! I see adverse omens. I do not feel that any good will come by killing all one's kinsmen in battle.

32. O Krsna! I do not long for victory, or kingdom, or enjoyments. O Govinda! Of what use is kingdom, enjoyments or even life itself?

33-34. Those for whose sake kingdoms, enjoyments, and pleasures are desired - those very teachers, fathers and sons, as also grandfathers, uncles, father-in-law and other relatives are here stationed in battle ready to give up their lives and possessions.

35. Even for the sovereignty of the three worlds, I do not desire to kill them, though myself killed - how much less then for this earthly kingdom!

36. What joy can there be for us by killing these sons of Dhrtarastra? Though they are murderous villains, only sin will accrue to us by killing them.

37. Therefore, O Madhava! it is not befitting that we kill our relatives, the sons of Dhrtarastra. How could one be happy by the slaughter of one's own kinsmen?

38-39. O Janardana! Even if these people, with their intelligence overpowered by greed, do not see any evil in the decay of families and any sin in the persecution of friends, why should not we, who are aware of the evil of such decay of families, learn to desist from that sin?

40. When a clan becomes decadent, its ancient traditions (laws) perish. When traditions perish, the entire clan is indeed overcome by lawlessness.

(Other names of Krsna is used)

(Chapter continues... )

41. O Krsna! When lawlessness prevails, the women of the clans become corrupt. O scion of Vrsnis! When women are corrupted, mixture of classes (promiscuity) prevails.

42. Promiscuity results only in hell to those destroyers of the clans, as also to the members of the clan. For (being without legitimate progeny to perform obsequi es), the spirits of their ancestors fall, deprived of the offerings of rice ball and water.

43. By the misdeeds of those ruiners of clans and promoters of promiscuity, the immemorial traditions of the communities and clans are uprooted.

44. O Janardana! We have heard that residence in hell awaits men, the religious traditions of whose clans have been destroyed.

45. Alas! What great sin have we resolved to commit when we prepared ourselves to destroy our kinsmen out of greed for the pleasures of a kingdom!

46. Far better would it be for me if the sons of Dhrtarastra, with weapons in hand, kill me in battle, unarmed and unresisting!

47. Sanjaya said: So saying, Arjuna, with his mind overwhelmed with sorrow, abandoned his bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot seat.

*End of the first chapter*

* Chapter 2 - Yoga of Knowledge *

1. Sanjaya said: To him who was thus overcome with pity and whose eyes were full of tears and bore a bewildered look, Sri Krsna spoke as follows:

2. The Blessed Lord said: O Arjuna! Whence has this loathsome stupidity come upon you in this crisis? It (this attitude) is unworthy of a noble personage; it is a bar to heaven and a cause of much disrepute.

3. O Partha! Yield not to unmanliness! It befits thee not. Abandoning this base faint-heartedness, rise up, O dreaded hero!

4. Arjuna said: O Krsna! How can I attack Bhisma and Drona in battle with my arrows? They are, indeed worthy of worship, O destroyer of foes!

5. It is indeed better to live here in this world on a beggar's fare than to prosper by killing these venerable teachers. The enjoyment of pleasure and power obtained through the slaughter of these teachers and elders will surely be bloodstained.

6. We do not know which of the two (alternatives) will be the better - the one that we should conquer them or the other that they should conquer us. The men on the side of Dhritrastra, standing arrayed against us, are the very people after killing whom we should not care to live.

7. My natural disposition is vitiated by a sense of pity, and my mind is in utter confusion regarding my duty. Lord, I beg Thee: tell me with certainty what will lead to my good. I am Thy disciple. Instruct me, who have taken refuge in Thee.

8. I do not find anything that can assuage this grief which numbs my senses. Neither the unchallenged lordship over a prosperous kingdom, nor even the overlordship of all the Devas can do so.

9. Sanjaya said: Addressing SriKrsna, the master of the senses, Arjuna, though valorous and vigilant, said, ' I will not fight' and sat silent.

10. O King! To him who was thus sitting grief-stricken between the two armies (instead of fighting) , SriKrsna said as if by way of ridicule.