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Gita Jayanti is the day observed in the glories of the revealed wisdom. On this day, this year on 5th December 2011 Lord Krishna retold the absolute truth- Gita, to Arjun some five thousand years ago, which the Lord has revealed for the first time to the Sun God at the begining of creation.

The Bhagavad-gita is also known as the Gitopanisad and is considered one of

the Upanisads. The title Bhagavad-gita is sometimes translated as “The Song

of God.” Gita mean “song.” God, Krsna, is so sublime that whatever He speaks

is music and poetry. The word bhagavan has been analyzed by Vedic

authorities. Bhaga means “opulence” and is related to the word bhagya: “good

fortune.” And van means “one who possesses.” So bhagavan means “He who

possesses all opulence in full.”

aisvaryasya samagrasya

viryasya yasasah sriyah

jnana-vairagyayos caiva

sannam bhaga itingana

“Full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation–these are

the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Visnu Purana

6.5.47)

For example, wealth. All of us possess some wealth. I may have ten dollars,

but if I look further I will find someone who has a hundred dollars. And if

I look still further, I will find someone who has a thousand dollars, and a

million, and a billion. But no one can say that he has all the wealth in all

creation, that no one is equal to him or greater than him in wealth. When we

come to that person who has all wealth–no one is equal to or greater than

him–that is Bhagavan, Krsna.

The Bhagavad-gita was originally spoken by Krsna to Arjuna. As stated in the

Gita (4.1),

sri-bhagavan uvaca

imam vivasvate yogam

proktavan aham avyayam

vivasvan manave praha

manur iksvakave ‘bravit

“The Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, said: I instructed this imperishable

science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to

Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Iksvaku.”

Lord Krsna originally spoke the Gita to Vivasvan, the sun-god, who spoke it

to his son Manu, who in turn spoke it to Iksvaku. In this way the knowledge

was passed on through disciplic succession from one to the next to the next.

But in the course of time, that chain became broken.

evam parampara-praptam

imam rajarsayo viduh

sa kaleneha mahata

yogo nastah parantapa

“This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic

succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course

of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is

appears to be lost.” (Bg 4.2) Nasta means “spoiled.” You may have a nice

plate of prasada, but if you leave it aside and it becomes old and

contaminated, it becomes nasta, spoiled. It is food, but you don’t get the

benefit. So, to get the real benefit of the Bhagavad-gita, one must receive

it through parampara (evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh).

Five thousand years ago, Lord Krsna detected that the chain was broken and

that, consequently, the knowledge was lost. So He came again and spoke the

Bhagavad-gita again, to Arjuna: “Now, Arjuna, you become the first recipient

of this knowledge in the new chain, so that the knowledge is received and

presented as it is.” Srila Prabhupada called his translation of the Gita the

Bhagavad-gita As It Is. “As it is” means as Krsna spoke it five thousand

years ago and as Arjuna understood it.

How did Arjuna understand it? First, he accepted Krsna as the Supreme

Personality of Godhead:

arjuna uvaca

param brahma param dhama

pavitram paramam bhavan

purusam sasvatam divyam

adi-devam ajam vibhum

“Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate

abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental,

original person, the unborn, the greatest.” (Bg 10.12)

And he accepted everything that Krsna said as true: sarvam etad rtam manye

yan mam vadasi kesava–”Krsna, I totally accept as truth all that You have

told me.” (Bg 10.14) “I accept whatever You say, in toto.” He did not

discriminate that he liked some parts of the Gita and not other parts.

Sarvam etad rtam manye: “I accept in toto everything that You have said.”

One verse in the Bhagavad-gita that is very popular among some people

states, karmany evadhikaras te: “You are entitled to do your duty.” They

think, “I can do my duty. I can go to work. I can make and spend money. I

can take care of my family, live with my family, enjoy with my family and

friends. That is a precious instruction.” But when they come to

sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja–give up all varieties of

religiousness and surrender to Krsna–that is a little troublesome, and they

want to cut that part: “We don’t really need it. We’ll just keep the really

valuable part: I can do my duty.”

In order to get the full benefit of the Bhagavad-gita, it is essential to

accept it as it is. Devotees who have accepted it as it is and applied its

principles in their lives have undergone extraordinary transformations. This

knowledge can really help people. And any genuine person who gets something

good will naturally want to share it with others. Anyone who has really

imbibed the nectar of the Bhagavad-gita, gotten the benefit of the

Bhagavad-gita, will want to share the knowledge with others. It is natural.

If you are eating a nice plate of prasada and taste something really good,

it is natural to say, “You should try this; it’s really good.” Or, “You

should try this with this; it’s a really good combination.” Anyone–any

child–will do that. So when you actually experience the benefit of the

Bhagavad-gita in your life, you will naturally want to share the knowledge

with others so that they too can benefit and become happy.

Now, why did Krsna choose Arjuna to be the first student of the

Bhagavad-gita? Arjuna was not a sannyasi. He was a married man. And he was

not a brahmana. He was a warrior. Why Arjuna? Krsna explains,

sa evayam maya te ‘dya

yogah proktah puratanah

bhakto ‘si me sakha ceti

rahasyam hy etad uttamam

“That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today

told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend and can

therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science.” (Bg 4.3)

The main qualification for understanding the Gita is bhakto ‘si me, to be

Lord Krsna’s devotee. And later Krsna says that one should hear the Gita

with faith and without envy (sraddhavan anasuyas ca srnuyad api yo narah).

(Bg 18.71) This is a most important point: to get the true benefit of the

Gita, one must be a devotee.

What does it mean to be a devotee? Sometimes the word devotee is used quite

broadly. To begin, let us understand devotee in contrast to karmi, jnani,

and yogi. These are all technical (as well as general) terms. A karmi

engages in fruitive work. He works for personal gain: “I have worked and

earned. Now I have the right to enjoy the fruit.” That is 90 percent of the

world. People work, and they feel, “I have earned the money, so I have the

right to spend it–on myself, on my family, on my community, on my country”

(or whatever limited or extended concept of sense gratification he or she

has). But the Gita says no. Karmany evadhikaras te ma phalesu kadacana: “You

have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to

the fruits of action.” (Bg 2.47) The fruits belong to Krsna.

If you invite a carpenter to your house and give him wood and nails and

glue–everything he needs–and say, “I want you to build me a cabinet,” in

the end, to whom does the cabinet belong–to the carpenter or to you? It

belongs to the proprietor, not the worker. The worker has assembled the

ingredients supplied by the proprietor, but that doesn’t make him the owner.

This entire material creation, this entire cosmic manifestation–the

elements are provided by Krsna. The earth we tread; the water we drink; the

air we breathe; the fire, or electricity, we use–everything belongs to Him,

and we cannot rightly claim any of it for ourselves. We may assemble the

elements in different ways, but it all belongs to Him and is meant to be

used for His purposes.

A karmi engages in work and wants to keep the fruits for himself. A

karma-yogi engages in work but gives the fruits to Krsna. A man may grow a

tree, and the tree will produce fruits. A karmi will keep the fruits for

himself, whereas a karma-yogi will give the fruits, or some of the fruits,

to Krsna. The sakama-karma-yogi has selfish desires, but he still gives

something to Krsna. If the tree produces a hundred mangoes, he may give one

or two or ten or twenty to Krsna. And as he becomes purified, as he develops

more faith and becomes more attached to Krsna, he will give more to Krsna.

And eventually he may give all one hundred mangoes to Krsna, without any

selfish desire (niskama-karma-yoga). But he will not be the loser. Krsna

will give him His prasada, His mercy.

The jnanis and often the yogis are impersonalists; they believe that God is

ultimately impersonal–nameless, formless, without qualities, without

activities. They may even go so far as to think that Krsna’s form is

material, that just as we have a physical body made of flesh and bones and

blood and stool, so does Krsna. And according to them, if Krsna is material,

then His name, form, qualities, and activities are also all material. People

may chant His name, but ultimately they have to go beyond that. People may

worship His form, but they have to go beyond that. People may talk about His

qualities and activities, but they have to go beyond that. Ultimately,

according to them, we have to go beyond all these illusory forms and names

and come to the all-pervading impersonal light and merge and become one with

it. Then there is no you, no me, no Krsna–nothing. Just oneness.

In theory, that is also a possibility. But it is very rare to achieve that

state, and very difficult. Lord Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-gita

(12.2-7):

mayy avesya mano ye mam

nitya-yukta upasate

sraddhaya parayopetas

te me yuktatama matah

“Those who fix their minds on My personal form and are always engaged in

worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith are considered by Me to be

most perfect.

ye tv aksaram anirdesyam

avyaktam paryupasate

sarvatra-gam acintyam ca

kuta-stham acalam dhruvam

sanniyamyendriya-gramam

sarvatra sama-buddhayah

te prapnuvanti mam eva

sarva-bhuta-hite ratah

“But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the

perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, unchanging,

fixed and immovable–the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth–by

controlling the various senses and being equally disposed to everyone, such

persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at last achieve Me.

kleso ‘dhikataras tesam

avyaktasakta-cetasam

avyakta hi gatir duhkham

dehavadbhir avapyate

“For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature

of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that

discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.

ye tu sarvani karmani

mayi sannyasya mat-parah

ananyenaiva yogena

mam dhyayanta upasate

tesam aham samuddharta

mrtyu-samsara-sagarat

bhavami na cirat partha

mayy avesita-cetasam

“But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being

devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always

meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Prtha–for

them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.”

Not only is the impersonal path difficult, but the result is also not very

satisfying, because ultimately everyone wants happiness and love. The two

most basic human needs are to love and be loved. We want friends, we want

family, we want community, and we are not happy without them. If you were a

billionaire but could never see another living being, would you be happy?

No. You would be so desperate for company, for relationship, that you would

say, “I don’t want this wealth. I just want to be with people I love and who

love me.” In a way, this was Arjuna’s thinking at the beginning of the

Bhagavad-gita. He considered, “What is the use of winning a kingdom if in

the course of the battle all my friends and family die? What’s the use? With

whom will I enjoy my kingdom?” The thought of being without family and

friends so overwhelmed Arjuna that he said to Krsna,

na hi prapasyami mamapanudyad

yac chokam ucchosanam indriyanam

avapya bhumav asapatnam rddham

rajyam suranam api cadhipatyam

“I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses.

I will not be able to dispel it even if I win a prosperous, unrivaled

kingdom on earth with sovereignty like that of the demigods in heaven.” (Bg

2.8)

There is much truth to what Arjuna said at the beginning of the Gita, but

that truth is on a lower level. By the mercy of Lord Krsna, after hearing

the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna was elevated to a higher, better understanding. He

realized that perfect happiness and love were to be realized in relation to

Krsna, and so Arjuna surrendered unto Him.

Krsna gave Arjuna the choice. Krsna did not force him, because true

surrender, or true love, is voluntary. Krsna gave Arjuna the freedom to

deliberate and then decide:

iti te jnanam akhyatam

guhyad guhyataram maya

vimrsyaitad asesena

yathecchasi tatha kuru

“Thus I have explained to you knowledge still more confidential. Deliberate

on this fully, and then do what you wish to do.” (Bg 18.63) Yathecchasi

tatha kuru–”You can do whatever you like.” We all have free will, given to

us by God. But after hearing the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna immediately

responded, karisye vacanam tava: “I will do whatever You say.” That is the

position of the surrendered devotee.

arjuna uvaca

nasto mohah smrtir labdha

tvat-prasadan mayacyuta

sthito ‘smi gata-sandehah

karisye vacanam tava

“Arjuna said: My dear Krsna, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I

have regained my memory by Your mercy. I am now firm and free from doubt and

am prepared to act according to Your instructions.” (Bg 18.73)

Now we may be a little worried. We are back to that troublesome sloka,

sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: “Abandon all varieties of

religion and just surrender unto Me.” And we may wonder, “What are the

implications of karisye vacanam tava: ‘I am prepared to act according to

Your instructions’? What if Krsna tells me to give up my wife, my children,

my business, my home? Then what?” This is a problematic question, and some

people may not want to pursue the course of surrender to Krsna, because they

are afraid of the consequences.

But there is some leniency here, some considerateness. Lord Krsna gives us a

gradual process to come to the stage of surrender, because surrender is

based on faith. When we have faith in someone or something, we can

surrender. And if we don’t have faith, we won’t surrender. In this present

Age of Kali, faith is very rare. It is very difficult to come by genuine

faith. The society is materialistic, and everyone is cultured in the idea

that they are independent, free to think and do whatever they like, without

restriction. In fact, they are envious. Material life means envy–first of

Krsna. People think, “Why should I surrender to Him? I am also intelligent.

I also know things. I can also speak and argue. Why should I surrender?” And

people find fault with Krsna: “Why did He tell Arjuna to fight? Why did He

cause so many people to die?” In particular, people who are envious find

fault with Krsna. They can never understand the Bhagavad-gita. Therefore

Lord Krsna says,

idam te natapaskaya

nabhaktaya kadacana

na casusrusave vacyam

na ca mam yo ‘bhyasuyati

“This confidential knowledge may never be explained to those who are not

austere, or devoted, or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is

envious of Me.” (Bg 18.67) One must be a devotee, a bhakta. Only devotees

are without envy.

Still, Krsna, like a loving father, wants to bring all His sons and

daughters to the highest perfection, even though He knows that it may take

some time. A parent will want his child to grow to be strong and healthy and

happy and intelligent and competent, and to take over the family’s business.

A genuine, loving parent will want to give everything to the child, but the

parent first wants to see that the child is responsible enough.

So, the parents want to give to the children, but they also want to see that

the children are responsible enough to take care of what they give them. In

a similar way, Krsna wants to give us everything–even Himself–but He wants

to see that we are qualified.

Another analogy is a teacher in a classroom. The study of math begins with

one plus one equals two. There is much more, but the students proceed step

by step: addition, then subtraction, then multiplication, then division–so

many processes they have to learn.

In the Bhagavad-gita, the first instruction is that you are not the body but

the soul within the body. Aham brahmasmi. That is the beginning, and if we

understand even one line of the Bhagavad-gita, from the very beginning, our

lives will change.

dehino ‘smin yatha dehe

kaumaram yauvanam jara

tatha dehantara-praptir

dhiras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to

youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A

sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” (Bg 2.13) If we just

understand that we are not the body but are the atma, the jivatma, within

the body, that alone is enough to change our whole life. We will no longer

act on the basis of the body, for sense gratification, but on the basis of

the soul, for self-realization. In today’s materialistic society one’s whole

endeavor is to get things for the body–my body, my wife’s body, my

children’s bodies, my parents’ bodies–to make the body comfortable. But the

body is just like a dress for the soul. Now, which is more important–the

clothes or the person inside the clothes? The person, of course. The body

itself is just a dress, which changes. The real person is the soul, who

exists always.

vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya

navani grhnati naro ‘parani

tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany

anyani samyati navani dehi

“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly

accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.” (Bg 2.22)

If we understand just this one point, from the very beginning of the

Bhagavad-gita, our entire life will change. We will work for the benefit of

the soul, which is our actual self and is part and parcel of the Supreme

Self, God, Krsna, knowing that our real relationship is with Him, not with

the body. And then, gradually, step by step, we will come to the conclusion

of the Bhagavad-gita:

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto

mad-yaji mam namaskuru

mam evaisyasi satyam te

pratijane priyo ‘si me

“Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me, and offer your homage

unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because

you are My very dear friend.” (Bg 18.65)

sarva-dharman parityajya

mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo

moksayisyami ma sucah

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall

deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” (Bg 18.66)

Man-mana–always think of Krsna. If you do that, you will naturally become a

devotee of Krsna (mad-bhakto). You will worship Him (mad-yaji) and offer

obeisance unto Him (mam namaskuru). It is so simple.

The critical point is man-mana, to always think of Krsna. And how can we

always think of Him? In the ninth chapter of the Gita Krsna says,

satatam kirtayanto mam

yatantas ca drdha-vratah

namasyantas ca mam bhaktya

nitya-yukta upasate

“Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing

down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.” (Bg

9.14) Satatam kirtayanto mam–if we always (satatam) engage in glorifying

Krsna, chanting His holy name (kirtana), we will always think of Him.

We are Hare Krsna devotees, and we are speaking about the Bhagavad-gita.

What is the connection? The chanting of Hare Krsna is the real way to follow

the instructions of Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita. Sri Krsna Caitanya, the

incarnation of Krsna for the present Age of Kali, who inaugurated the Hare

Krsna movement five hundreds years ago, taught, kirtaniyah sada harih:

“Always chant the holy name of Hari [Krsna].” And in the Bhagavad-gita, Sri

Krsna gives the same instruction: satatam kirtayanto mam–always engage in

kirtana, chanting the holy name of Krsna. So the chanting of Hare Krsna is

really the fulfillment of Lord Krsna’s ultimate instruction in the

Bhagavad-gita: man-mana–always think of Krsna. Chanting is the best–and

easiest–way to think of Krsna.

Of course, we think of Krsna when we hear about Him from the Bhagavad-gita

and Srimad-Bhagavatam, but for that we need a book or a reader. We think of

Krsna when we see His Deity form, His murti, but for that we need a temple,

a mandira, with a murti. There are so many ways of thinking of Krsna, but

the beauty of chanting, either kirtana or japa, is that we need only our

tongue and ears. In the Bhagavad-gita (10.25) Lord Krsna recommends,

yajnanam japa-yajno ‘smi: “Of sacrifices I am the chanting of the holy names

[japa].” This anyone can do. Young or old, black or white, man or woman,

educated or uneducated–anyone and everyone can chant Hare Krsna and fulfill

Krsna’s instruction in the Bhagavad-gita.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, the authorized biography of Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu, relates an instructive story. While touring South India, Sri

Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to the holy place of Sri Ranga-ksetra, where, in

front of the temple, He saw a brahmana holding the Bhagavad-gita and crying,

surrounded by people who were laughing and criticizing him. Sri Caitanya

asked him, “Why are these people laughing?” And he replied, “I am holding

the Bhagavad-gita, but I am more or less illiterate. I don’t know how to

pronounce the words properly, and I do not know what they mean. But my guru

ordered me to read the Gita, and so I read all eighteen chapters every day.”

Caitanya Mahaprabhu inquired, “Why are you crying?” And he replied, “When I

hold the Bhagavad-gita I see before me Krsna and Arjuna on the chariot.

Krsna is acting as Arjuna’s chariot driver. Taking the reins in His hands,

He appears very beautiful. While seeing Lord Krsna instructing Arjuna, I

weep in ecstatic happiness.” Then Lord Caitanya told the brahmana, “You are

the true authority in the reading of the Bhagavad-gita. You know the real

purport of the Bhagavad-gita.” And He embraced him.

Proud people may think, “Oh, these Hare Krsna people can’t understand much.

They don’t know Sanskrit. They don’t have the samskaras. Let them chant. It

is good.” But actually, by chanting the holy name of Krsna one awakens one’s

love for Him, which is the real purport of the Bhagavad-gita. By chanting,

one fulfills the Lord’s instructions in the Bhagavad-gita to always think of

Him and sing His glories. Although some who chant may not be very learned or

knowledgeable in a certain sense, if they are genuine devotees of Krsna,

they are fulfilling the real purport of the Bhagavad-gita.

aho bata sva-paco ‘to gariyan

yaj-jihvagre vartate nama tubhyam

tepus tapas te juhuvuh sasnur arya

brahmanucur nama grnanti ye te

“Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even

if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons

who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of

austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the

Aryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed

at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas, and fulfilled everything

required.” (SB 3.33.7)

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness not only presents the

knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita but also gives the practical means by which

one can fulfill its purport–to become a devotee of Krsna, always think of

Him, worship Him, offer homage to Him, and preach His message. After

personally surrendering to Krsna (sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam

vraja), one can go further and teach this knowledge. This is Lord Krsna’s

last instruction:

ya idam paramam guhyam

mad-bhaktesv abhidhasyati

bhaktim mayi param krtva

mam evaisyaty asamsayah

“For one who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional

service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me.

na ca tasman manusyesu

kascin me priya-krttamah

bhavita na ca me tasmad

anyah priyataro bhuvi

“There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there

ever be one more dear.” (Bg 18.68-69) The real conclusion of the

Bhagavad-gita, built upon one’s full surrender to Krsna, is to spread this

message and become most dear to Krsna.

This is the opportunity we all have now. On Gita Jayanti we think of Krsna,

recite the Gita, and perform the yajna, but the real essence of the

celebration is to bring more people to Krsna, to the wisdom of the Gita. As

devotees, we want to bring others to Krsna, and when we do, Krsna is even

more pleased. And that is what Gita Jayanti is really meant to do: to please

Krsna, to bring the Bhagavad-gita to more people and bring more people to

Krsna–and make us dear to Krsna.