Essence of SrI bhagavath gIthA – Chapter 1

SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Essence of SrI bhagavath gIthA

In the fifth SlOkam of gIthArtha sangraham ALavandhAr (yAmunAchArya) mercifully explains the essence of first chapter as “arjuna stood bewildered due to having acquired the thought of the righteous battle being unrighteous, due to having affection and mercy towards inapt relatives. This gIthA SAsthram was commenced by bhagavAn to make him fight the battle”.

sarvESvaran, who is the divine consort of SrI mahAlakshmi, has two characteristics – being the opposite of all defects and the abode of all auspicious qualities. He has the two worlds as his possession, namely nithya vibhUthi which is known as paramapadham and leelA vibhUthi which is known as samsAram. He is known as nArAyaNan, purushOththaman, parabrahmam et al. He opened his divine mouth and mercifully spoke this gIthA SAsthram to uplift the bound jIvAthmAs in this world. The way he mercifully spoke this SAsthram was amazing.

First, he went as a messenger and ensured the possibility of the battle happening between pANdavas and dhuryOdhana et al. He became the sArathy (charioteer) for arjunan. Then, while the armies where gathered in the battlefield, he brought the chariot to the middle of the two armies based on the order of arjuna who was determined to fight the battle. As arjuna observed bhIshma, dhrONa et al who were gathered there, he started becoming bewildered. He became bewildered to question whether the battle should be fought and argued with bhagavAn explaining the evil effects of the battle.

All of these were witnessed by sanjaya who is a great devotee of krishNa, by the grace of his guru vyAsa, and narrates these aspects to dhritharAshtra, after seeing them with his internal eyes as if seeing directly.

All of these are present in the first chapter of SrI gIthA SAsthram.

Source – http://githa.koyil.org/index.php/essence-1-tamil/

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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