What is the Bhagavad Gita ?
What is the greatness of the Gita ?
How many chapters and shlokas does the Gita contain ?
Why do some books say that the Gita contains 701 shlokas?
Is the Gita an upanishad?
Is a Gita dictionary available on the internet ?
Has any one done non traditional research on the Gita?
Where can I get audio versions of the shlokas ?
Is there any special Gita day during the year?
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Answers
Q1: What is the Bhagavad Gita ?
Mahabhaarata is one of the greatest Indian epics . It was written by sage Vyasa . It contains Bhagavad Gita, the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna, in the battlefield wherein Krishna helps to resolve Arjuna's mental conflicts and urges him to fight the war. This is narrated by Sanjaya to the blind king Dhritarashtra and begins with a question by Dhritarashtra seeking to know how Arjuna who had laid down his arms, was convinced to fight.
Arjuna's doubts are doubts that face every generation and so the lessons of the Gita are as applicable in this day and age as they were centuries ago. The Gita unfolds a way of life that helps us to be socially more productive and individually more balanced and tranquil and following which we can pursue life at peace with ourselves. It is a scriptural guide that can give direction to our lives irrespective of us whoever we are and whatever our problem is and transcends the man made, self imposed boundaries of caste, creed and religion.
Bal Gangadhar (Lokamanya) Tilak said ``The Gita was not preached either as a pastime for persons tired out after living a worldly life in the pursuit of selfish motives, nor as a preparatory lesson for living such worldly life, but in order to give philosophical advice as to how one should live one's worldly life with an eye to Release, moksha, and as to the true duty of human beings in worldly life. My last prayer to everyone, therefore, is that one should not fail to thoroughly understand this ancient science of the life of a householder, or of worldly life, as early as possible in one's life.''
According to Aldous Huxley ``The Gita is one of the clearest and most comprehensive summaries of the Perennial Philosophy ever to have been done. Hence its enduring value, not only for Indians, but for all mankind. The Bhagavadgeeta is perhaps the most systematic spiritual statement of the Perennial Philosophy.''
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Q2: What is the greatness of the Gita ?
The Mahabharata says "sarva shaastramayii giitaa" meaning that the Gita comprises all the scriptures. Sage Vyaasa has said that the Gita alone should be sung, heard and assimilated and there is no use of any other scripture when one has the Gita because it has originated from the lips of the Lord Himself in the following words..
giitaa sugiitaa kartavyaa kimanyaiH shaastrasaMgrahaiH
yaa svayaM padmanaabhasya mukhapadmaadvinissR^itaa
Gita mahaatmyam or the Glory of Gita is hence unlimited and beyond description. It contains the essence of all the four vedas and yet its style is so simple that after a little study, anyone can easily follow the structure of the words. Yet.. it is so profound that even a life long study may not reveal the depth of meaning. As a reader grows in maturity, the same words reveal more and more facets of thought and hence the Gita remains eternally new.The Lord Himself says in the varaahapuraaNaa,
giitaashraye.ahaM tishhThaami giitaa me chottamaM gR^iham.h
giitaaGYaanamupaashritya trii.nllokaan.h paalayaamyaham.h
In this Sloka, the Lord says that He has made Gita his abode and maintains the three worlds on the strength of the wisdom contained in the Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita has lessons for the young and old of any caste, creed and religion and teaches the technique of perfect living.
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Q3: How many chapters and shlokas does the Gita contain ?
The Gita contains 18 chapters and 700 shlokas. Of the 700 shlokas, 1 (first) shloka is of dhR^itaraashhTra, 40 are of sa.njaya, 84 of arjuna and 575 of shriikR^ishhNa.They are classified as under. (For Short summaries of all these chapters click here)
Sl..No. Name Translation shlokas
1 arjunavishhAdayogaH The hesitation and despondency of Arjuna 47
2 sAN^khyayogaH Communion through Knowledge 72
3 karmayogaH Communion through Action 43
4 GYAnakarmasa.nnyAsayogaH Renunciation of Action in Knowledge 42
5 karmasa.nnyAsayogaH Communion through Renunciation 29
6 dhyaanayogaH Communion through Meditation 47
7 GYAnaviGYAnayogaH Communion through knowledge and Realization 30
8 aksharabrahmayogaH The way to imperishable Brahman 28
9 rAjavidyArAjaguhyayogaH The Sovereign science and Sovereign secret 34
10 vibhuutiyogaH Manifestations of Divine glories 42
11 vishvaruupadarshanayogaH The Vision of the Cosmic form 55
12 bhaktiyogaH Communion through loving devotion 20
13 kshetrakshetraGYavibhAgayogaH Differentiation of the knower from the known. 34
14 guNatrayavibhAgayogaH Division according to the three guNaas 27
15 purushhottamayogaH Mystery of the All pervading person 20
16 daivAsurasaMpadvibhAgayogaH Distinction between divine and demoniac types 24
17 shraddhAtrayavibhAgayogaH The three divisions of faith 28
18 mokshasa.nnyAsayogaH Liberation through Renunciation 78
The kashmiri version of Gita contains some additional shlokas, and some words are different.
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Q4: Why do some books say that the Gita contains 701 shlokas ?
There is an extra shloka because of the inclusion of Arjuna's question in the beginning of chapter 13. This was done to add continuity and is omitted in some texts.
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Q5: Is the Gita an upanishad?
The Gita is often referred to as an upanishhad, and according to some it contains the truth of all of them.The fundamental thoughts of the upanishads, the conclusions and theories are expounded in the Gita. The Gita has been given the status of a Upanishad as enunciated in the following verse:
sarvopanishhado gaavo dogdhaa gopaalanandanaH
paartho vatsaH sudhiirbhoktaa dugdhaM giitaamR^itaM mahat.h
This means that all the upanishads are the cows and Lord Krishna, the son of a cowherd, is the milker. Arjuna is the calf, all the pure minded people are the consumers and the ambrosial Gita is the delicious milk.
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Q6: Is a Gita dictionary available on the internet ?
Yes. It is available in encoded (itx) and devanaagarii postscript (ps) versions with meanings by Srila Prabhupada. Please see bgwords files for both versions on
ftp://jaguar.cs.utah.edu/private/sanskrit/ Back to Top
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Q7: Has any one done non traditional research on the Gita?
The following are references of some of the non traditional research done on the Gita. By no means can this list be considered exhaustive.
THE SOCIAL ROLE OF THE GITA: HOW AND WHY, was published in Delhi by Urmila Agarwal in 1993. The book is available from Motilal Banarsidass.
UPANISHADS, GITA, AND BIBLE : A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HINDU AND CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES written by Parrinder, Edward Geoffrey. London : Sheldon Press, 1975.
THE GITA & THE QURAN : A COMPARATIVE STUDY : AN APPROACH TO NATIONAL INTEGRATION / Mohammad Khan Durrany. 1st ed. Durrany, Mohammad Khan, 1934- Delhi : Nag Publishers, 1982.
THE GITA AS IT WAS : REDISCOVERING THE ORIGINAL BHAGAVADGITA / Sinha, Phulgenda, 1924- La Salle, Ill. : Open Court, 1987, c1986
THE GITA IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN SCIENCE [BY] R. B. Lal. Foreword by R. R. Diwakar. Bombay, Somaiya Publications [1970]
THE GITA IN WORLD LITERATURE / edited by C.D. Verma. New Delhi : Sterling Publishers, c1990.
THE TRICOLOR GITA, Gita as a text written by three individuals.
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Q8: Where can I get good audio versions of the shlokas ?
Kendra Crossen Burroughs and David R. Israel wanted to know if there were any audio tape recordings of the Bhagavad Gita with a real Indian pandit reading (or chanting) in Sanskrit, with no musical background.
Max had transferred an audio recording of a performance by students of Samdeepany Sadhanalaya (sp?) from the late 70's to CD-ROM (WAV files). He also made a program to index the chapters so that one can listen to any particular verse by referring to the chapter and verse numbers.He wanted to know how such a tool could be made freely available (it's about 150 MBytes of disk space).
Vidyasagar Govind says that the best chanting of the Geeta in tape form is that by Swami Brahmananda.It is produced by the Central Chinmaya Mission Trust,Deenabandhu Devastanam,CMH Road,Indiranagar,Bangalore 560038 .There is very little music in it,and the pronounciation is very clear.
Aklujkar said that the music company Sangeetha, The Master Recording Co., 97-C, III Street, Kumaran Colony, Vadapalani, Chennai (formerly Madras) 600 026; phone numbers (91+44) 483-8802 and 483-8822; fax number 483-6174. supplies general as well as specialized catalogues (the two in the latter category are "Classical Devotional, Dance ..." and "Sanskrit Devotionals") of what it can supply.
In the Pune-Mumbai area, Gita chapters 9, 12 and 15 sung by Lata Mangeshkar are available. The chapter 15 recording appears on the back of Lata's GYaaneshvarii LP (and now cassette?). For the cassette of chapters 9 and 12, the producer is HMV, The Gramophone Company of India, 5 Old Court House St., Calcutta 700 001. There is also said to be available a Gita recording (select verses with Hindi narration) by Suhasini Mulgaonkar. In addition, there is said to be a two-cassette set of select Gita verses set to music by Vanraj Bhatia, produced by Living Media India Ltd., New Delhi. Its tunes are very good and original; technical side of production is excellent; pronunciation, on the whole, is good, except for the singers' failure in consistently stressing short vowels followed by conjunct consonants.
Copies of Aklujkar's recording are also available at a cost of US$ 15, including handling and postage, for a two-cassette set. They can be obtained from Ashok Aklujkar, Professor, Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 1Z2.
Gerard Huet mentions that there is a set of 4 audio cassettes by the three famous Mohapatra sisters, in the same style as their numerous tapes of vishhNu sahasranaama stotra. It contains very clearly chanted text with a little musical background. It is copyrighted 1991 Gathani Records Company, 2 Temple Street, Calcutta 700 072.
Rebecca Manring gave the information that The Music Today series produced in India and frequently advertised in such places as India Today has recently produced recordings of both Bhagavadgita and Kalidasa's Meghaduta. But Anand Venkat Raman says that he had bought these audio cassettes on two occasions on two different trips to India (more than 50 or so of them) and of the 50, perhaps 3 or 4 only were of acceptable quality. He feels that they only tend to do a good job of advertising and packaging their tapes attractively, with an informative blurb within each one. Other music companies such as Sangeeta or HMV do an immensely better job and are also value for money.
Mandakranta Bose mentions that there is a Gita tape by Professor Govinda Gopal Mukhopadhyaya and produced by HMV in Calcutta in the late 80's. It contains the second chapter. It is available in Calcutta music stores.
Das Menon has provided the information that there is a set of tapes available from E. Bharatha Pisharody, the originator of the Kamadenu course for learning Sanskrit. These tapes have been prepared without any background music.The address is :
E. Bharatha Pisharody KAMADENU P.O Eranellur Trissur Kerala India.
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Q9: Is there any special Gita day during the year?
Lord Krishna mentions in the Gita that `among the months I am the maargashiirshha, maasaanaaM maargashiirsho.aham.h.' In this year, maargashiirshha shuddha ekaadashii, noted as Gitajayanti falls on 10th December (these dates are based on Indian calendar. In other parts of the worlds there is some variation). Perhaps, the Gita conversation, in whatever form, took place during this time of the year. At least, it is an occasion to remember, religous or otherwise, the Gita as a sanskrit text.
July 20, 1997, is a full moon day, aashhaaDha paurNimaa. It is also noted as GurupaurNimaa or VyaasapaurNimaa It is an occasion to remember Vyasa for the epic Mahabhaarataa (and many other texts) written for `the benefit of mankind.'
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