A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 15.3. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Sunday, October 02, 2022. 05:00. 
Chapter 15: Krishna and Arjuna Together is Victory-3.

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The Bhagavadgita concludes with a message of meditation. It is Yoga. The Bhagavadgita is a scripture of Yoga, the art of union with Reality. At the end of each chapter we are told, 

ōm tat sad iti srimad bhagavadgītāsu upaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyām yogaṣastre sri krishnārjunasamvāde mokshasannyasayogo nāma ashtādaso'dhyāyah: 

The Bhagavadgita, which is Brahmavidya, a Yoga Sastra, and the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, is now concluded with the Eighteenth Chapter, called Moksha Sannyasa Yoga.

Now, these three terms Brahmavidya, Yoga Sastra, and Krishna-Arjuna Samvada refer to the three aspects of the importance of the message of the Gita. It is the science of the Absolute. Therefore, it is called Brahmavidya. It is the highest metaphysics and philosophy, beyond which nothing can be seen. All that you are expected to know, you will find in the Gita. After knowing this, there is nothing more to know. Therefore, it is called Brahmavidya, the science of the Supreme Being. It is not merely a science, it is also a practical application of this science in daily life. Therefore, it is called Yoga Sastra. It is a scripture of the practice of union with Reality.

So again here we have an insight into the insistence on knowledge and action going together, or rather, metaphysical insight going together with practice of meditation. Yoga Sastra is the scripture of the art of meditation, which the Bhagavadgita is, and it is also the system of the Absolute, so it is Brahmavidya.

What is the purpose of this practice of Yoga? 

What do you gain by the knowledge of this Brahmavidya? 

What are you aiming at, finally? 

The aim is Krishna-Arjuna Samvada, the dialogue between man and God. It is the direct confrontation by man of the eternity and the infinity that is before it. It is the entry of the soul into the Absolute. This is Krishna-Arjuna Samvada. So the Bhagavadgita is a science, an art, and a mystical text of union of the soul with the Supreme Being.

Towards the end, as a concluding recipe, as it were, the Gita tells something very interesting for us, whose meaning it is essential for us to appreciate correctly. 

Yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanurdharaḥ, tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir dhruvā nītir matir mama (Gita 18.78): 

Wherever is Krishna, the master of Yoga, wherever is Arjuna, the wielder of the bow, there is certain to be firm qualities, happiness and prosperity.

In the beginning, in the first verse of the Gita, a question is raised by Dhritarashtra to Sanjaya:

 Dharmakṣetre kurukṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ, māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś cai 'va kim akurvata sa–jaya (Gita 1.1). 

"What is happening in the field of Kurukshetra?" is the question raised in the first slokam. 

The answer is the last slokam: 

"What shall I tell you? You are asking me what is happening. I shall tell you what is happening. Wherever Krishna and Arjuna are united together, there is victory. Why should I tell you something more than this?"

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To be continued ...

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