[Advaita-l] Gita Jayanti

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

Today was Margashirasa Shukla 11 which is called Mokshada Ekadashi because 
it is the anniversary of Bhagavans bestowal of the Moksha shastra know as 
the Bhagavad Gita.

Forget all the philosophy, the Gita is first and foremost the story of a 
man paralayzed by crisis.  Now if you've only read the Gita itself you 
might think I am talking about Arjun but that's only partially true.  The 
Gita is part of the Mahabharata which consists of 100,000 shlokas spread 
over 18 major divisions (mahaparvans) and 100 minor divisions.  The Gita 
is part but not all of the Gitaparvan which is part of the Bhishma 
Mahaparvan.  The Gitaparvan starts in Hastinapura where Dhrtarashtra the 
nominal King but in reality just an innefectual spectator on the sidelines 
has just received from Sanjay the terrible news that Bhishma has been 
killed in battle.  Bhishma is the pitamaha ("grandfather", though actually 
he is the great-uncle) of the Kuruvamsha.  Invincible in battle, wise and 
self-controlled (he gave up his own claim to the throne and became 
celibate in order to fulfill a vow made to his father.)  So he is the 
exemplar of Kshatriyahood.  And yet he is killed in a fratricidal battle 
by the very people who held him as an ideal.  Dhrtarashtra (who is 
literally blind) cannot fathom how this came about.  To answer him, Sanjay 
relates the answer Bhagavan gave Arjun.

Shankaracharya notes that Arjun was a madhyama adhikari.  At a time when 
all kinds of sages and saints were alive why choose someone from the 
middle of the pack?  Because Bhagwan also had the Dhrtarashtras of the 
world in mind.  From the very beginning what was a hurried personal 
conference at the cusp of battle became something more universal.

Today as well many are despondent as to how they can be dharmic in a world 
where everything seems to be going wrong.  By Bhagavans krpa we have an 
answer in the Gita.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>