What Is Bhagavad Gita?

It's very important first of all to understand what is this Bhagavad Gita all about.

Bhagavad Gita is a classic conversation that happened between Krishna and Arjuna 5,000 years ago at the battlefield of Kurukshetra where Pandavas, the army of Pandavs as well as the army of Duryodhana had both assembled to engage in a fratricidal war. It is also said that the war was not only between Pandavas and Kauravas but also this war was between the divine and demonic forces, where divine forces were represented by Yudhishthira whereas the demonic forces were represented by Duryodhana or the Kauravas.

Metaphorically, if you look back within our own lives, although the war happened five thousand years ago but even today even at the present, this war continues in the life of every individual. Within each individual, there are divine and demonic forces, not forces precisely, you can call it the voice. We all must have experienced, when it comes to a decision making there are always multiple sounds if not at least two voices within our mind, one says "Do it" other says "Don't do it". 

The very first question here is have you experienced this kind of a situation where you hear multiple sounds? One which you can very easily call divine(which gives you the right advice), another a demonic (which takes you in the wrong direction). That's the point here so the message or the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita actually strengthens the divine within us and helps us to win over our internal struggles.

A lot of times people say Bhagavad Gita which was spoken 5000 years ago, what's it's value today? We'll learn as we progress through each chapter that the Bhagavad Gita is extremely important even today and for all the time to come. It's a wisdom book that changes our world views perceptions and understanding of life, as I said the war is going on even today, within the heart of every living entity, there are divine and demonic forces and the wisdom of Bhagavad Gita can help us strengthen the divine voice within us. We all once in a while face challenges with keeping commitments, making decisions, acting righteously at times. Do you think it's challenging to keep up with your commitment or do you find it difficult to act according to dharma? If yes, the message of Bhagavad Gita becomes very important because it gives us the strength and the wisdom to follow the path of dharma.

It is also important to note that this message of Bhagavad Gita is NOT SECTARIAN. Unfortunately, many people call it a religious book, and whenever we call any literature a religious book it by default becomes sectarian. Sectarian knowledge, which refers to a set of people having a faith in something which is not universal but that's not the message of Bhagavad Gita. In fact, when Krishna spoke to Arjuna, he spoke not only to Arjuna but through arjuna to all living entities and we'll see through the course of discussion in Bhagavad Gita, the time when she Krishna spoke this message, there were no religions that exist today. There was nothing called Hinduism, there was nothing called Islam, Christianity, etc. If you know the history of world religions it dates back to hardly two to three-thousand-year-old religions and the message of Bhagavad Gita was spoken five thousand years ago. So when Krishna was speaking to arjuna actually this message was spoken for all the humanity at that time. 

At that point of time, if it was not modern-day religion then what kind of religion was practiced that time? There was only one dharma which is varnashrama dharma, which will also be discussed in the Bhagavad Gita as we proceed ahead. A scientific division of the society based on one's psychological

and biological activities and not according to one's birth and the person would choose an occupation according to his psychological interest and according to his needs and therefore the varnashrama dharma was divided into Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and shudra. When a teacher or the guru would identify the need of an individual student and accordingly training was given. 

Therefore every individual at least in those days if somebody was a Kshatriya acted as a Kshatriya they did not become a Kshatriya because they had to maintain their household affairs, if somebody was a vaishya then he acted as a vaishya which means he had his business and did not become a businessman because somehow he had to maintain his household affair, unfortunately, today because the system has been completely destroyed or forgotten or misrepresented everyone today takes to an occupation wherein there is money. After we get to that profession then a person wonders did I make the right choice or Should I make a switch in my profession. Have you pondered if you are in the right profession or the right field or have been thinking of switching your profession or job constantly? 

Bhagavad Gita is the best self-help book and it's an adventurous journey in itself which we'll certainly experience as we proceed ahead. And when we understand this message it will definitely bring about a great change of heart and fill our life with auspiciousness.

Thanks for reading!