Chapter 1 Verse 1

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O Sanjaya, after assembling in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukṣetra, what did my sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu do, being desirous to fight?

In the first verse, Dhritarastra is asking Sanjaya about the scene on the battlefield.

Dhritarastra is blind – what does this indicate? He is not only physically blind wherein he cannot see anyone but he is blind to the faults of his sons. He prefers to ignore their mistakes and that is what makes him blind.

Sanjaya on the other hand who is sitting in a room can see the battlefield with his extra vision (a boon given to him by sage Vyasa). What does this mean? How can he see something happening far away? It is the inner vision that we all have. Sanjaya has that power and so, can not only see but also hear the dialogue between Arjuna and Lord Krishna.

Dhritarastra is insecure as deep within he knows his sons are on the wrong path and have done incorrect deeds. He is fearful as the battle is happening on the holy land of Kurukshetra. He knows that at such a pious place only the pure would have a chance to win. He knows that the sons of Pandu- Pandavas are virtuous by nature and also they have Lord Krishna on their side.

The inner conflict created by fear is troubling Dhritarastra and making him more insecure, fearful and desperate to know what is happening out there.

How do we relate this to our life?
Are we insecure or fearful? If so why? Have we closed our eyes and been blind to our own negatives?
Don’t we have the power like Sanjaya? Do we have Lord Krishna by our side?

Truth…

Truth…

A small five letter word. But in reality it means our very existence. To be truthful and to seek the truth…the truth of our existence…and the happiness thereafter…

In the 13th verse, Chapter 1 of the Bhagavad Gita – ‘Conches, drums, trumpets blared forth all at once and the battlefield was surrounded by loud noise’

Everyone on the battlefield blew conches and trumpets and the loud noise declared the onset of the war.

Now, from this verse we can understand that – When an elder of the house raises his voice, rest of the family members follow suit.

It is like as though everyone was waiting for the eldest member to begin.

The truth here is that elders always set an example for the younger generation. It actually matters how a parent conducts himself because that shows in the behaviour of his or her offspring.

When parents say, “Look at my child. He/she is so haughty and has such a bad temper, is so irresponsible and so on and on…”

Take one look at the parent. You will see the very nature hidden or many a times visible in the parent.

The child is innocent. The child is like clay which a parent can mould the way he or she wants. The child learns from and impersonates his/her parents until he reaches a particular age. After which the layers of conditioning make it difficult for the now grown up child to change ways practiced over the years.

It is when a child is in the womb that the training begins. Parents and elders of the house must understand that every thought, word and action of theirs is making impressions on the unborn child in the womb.

The loud noise is the sound within us. If you raise one doubt, one emotion of fear or anger you will find yourself surrounded by many more similar emotions.

When you lose your temper you find yourself saying things which you had never thought of or never meant to say…

One small sound made in anger leads to hundreds of sounds and the resulting noise is inevitably loud.

There is too much noise within us. In fact the noise within us is louder than the noise outside…however loud the noise outside might be.

Close your eyes and peep inside. Try to hear the noise going on inside. It is too loud…

Quieten the sound. Meditate. Reduce the frequency of thoughts that are creating the noise…

Meditate on what the truth is. Meditate on who you are actually. Mediate on the inner self and the sounds will reduce.

It will take some time to reach the state of silence. Probably a long time…

Absolute silence with no noise of thoughts, emotions or experiences…

I will read the Bhagavad Gita

My friend had the Srimad Bhagavad in English. I was going to borrow the book from her…

With full excitement and anticipation I reached my friend’s house. Today I could start reading the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. I rang the bell. My inner voice and my conscious mind both equally excited…

But alas! When she handed over the book to me I saw that it was the same “Bhagavad Gita- full version” that I had been evading for a long time now. The disappointment on my face did not go unnoticed and my friend asked if Srimad and this was not the same.

In a sad voice I told her that both were different and in fact this Gita had all the verses. It was the true version of what Krishna told Arjun on the battlefield when Arjun refused to fight the battle.

She felt sad that my bubble of anticipation had burst and I stood sadly at her doorstep. She pushed the book in my hand and said, “You had come to take the Gita, you take this. You try reading it. So what if it does not have stories? It couldn’t be all that boring after all.”

And I reached home with the heavy book in my hand knowing that I would feel bored to read this thick book and also that it had so many verses and explanations and no stories that obviously it wouldn’t interest me at all. I decided to keep the book safely for a while and return it to my good friend after a few days saying that I had been unable to read it.

But then I thought, when most of the people in my country and even abroad are such great fans of this book, why was I resisting it so much?

“Okay” I said to myself, “I will read, at least I will try to read it.”

Srimad Bhagavad Gita

While I kept on procrastinating my plan to buy the Bhagavad Gita, I eventually saw the book at Mom’s house. She had purchased it. Wow! Not read it though!

I almost picked it up to read it and then kept it back on the shelf realising I had some other urgent chores to attend to. The next day I actually read some of the pages, probably two or three pages after which I couldn’t help feeling the weight of the book on my hand and decided to read it later.

But the ‘later’ never came and I took leave of mom and returned home (obviously without the Gita).

So the Gita kept evading me or rather I should say I kept evading the Gita. I didn’t realise that this holy book had all the knowledge in the world. Instead, I went on a buying spree and purchased a whole lot of inspirational and motivational books.

Well finally, after reading several motivational books I thought maybe it was time I read the original Bhagavad Gita – As it is.

And then I heard from one of my friends that she was reading the Srimad Bhagavad by Shri Dongre Maharaj ( in Gujarati) and that it was simply beautiful. I was quite impressed as she told me that it was a book which explained a lot about life in the form of stories. She said all the ancient stories were compiled in the book. That inspired me. Stories! I was bent on reading it now.

My friend had a regional version of the book in a language I couldn’t read. I was getting desperate to read the book as my desire to read the Bhagavad would be completed and it wouldn’t be tiresome as the Srimad Bhagavad had many stories in it. I love reading the ancient stories of all the kings and their lives.

And soon enough my quest for reading the Srimad Bhagavad was to be completed. Another friend of mine said that someone had gifted her the book and it was in English. She also added that she was currently busy with some relatives and wouldn’t be reading the book anytime soon.

She said I was most welcome to visit her and borrow the book. What more could I have asked for?

‘Srimad Bhagavad in English’ – I hoped it would be the exact translation of the Gujarati version of the book that my other friend was reading…

Finally I was going to read the Gita – the Srimad Bhagavad…