Mahatma Gandhi, father of the nation, writes in his autobiography ‘My experiments with truth’ that he was very close to getting converted into Christianity when he suddenly could lay his hands upon Arnold’s English translated version of Gita which made him change his stand: He robustly stood his ground refusing to budge when all his close friends in South Africa wanted him to convert into Christianity which, according to his friends, was the only key to liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Further, reading of Raj Yoga by Swami Vivekananda, bolstered Gandhijee’s resolve further to stick to his stand come what may. Consequently Gandhi stood rock like, refusing to concede to his South African friends’ insistent pressure up on him to convert for his salvation. Mahatma Gandhi was all praise for Gita throughout his life and would take recourse to it as and when the crises would simply envelop him. He remained a steadfast admirer of the direction that Gita always provided to the confused humanity and eternally guided them to bring them back on track. Mahatma Gandhi, undoubtedly the greatest secularist ever born in last few centuries, never considered Gita to be a religious doctrine; he however dubbed it as a friend, guide and philosopher for the generations of human beings born on earth.
Gita, since the time immemorial, has guided the greatest of scholars towards understanding the mysterious phenomenon of human existence in the cosmos. Starting from Adi Shankaracharya to Swami Vivekananda, everyone struggled to comprehend the vastness of the meaning of the each verse contained in this priceless treasure for humanity. Little wonder then, scholars of different ages and era struggled to interpret its meanings in their own myriad ways—the way they comprehended the significance of the verses, they chose to interpret it . Adi Shankaracharya came up with Shankara Bhasya, which is a monistic expression of Gita, later many versions of Gita were written by sundry scholars and spiritual masters, including Swami Vivekananda, Rishi Aurobindo, Swami Parmahansa yogananda and the great devotee Prabhupadjee, the founder of ISCON. Surprisingly, each of these masters had given varied interpretations on the basis of their own understanding of the theme that Gita purportedly expounds.
Gita is unambiguously an encyclopedia which encapsulates the sequential process of leading a noble and righteous way of one’s life. The entire scripture comprises of the teachings of a charioteer Lord Krishna to his disciple archer Arjuna, who had come to fight the battle against his own cousin Duryodhana. Arjuna, confused over the rationale of the battle wherein he had to kill his own kith and kin, feels disillusioned with the implications and refuses to proceed ahead to perform his duty—a duty of a soldier( Kshatriya) who is expected to fight his battle without any doubts or ambiguity and even about its repercussions and implications. Gita starts with Krishna delivering his sermons to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kuruchetra which is relayed to Dhritrashtra, a blind king and father of Duryodhana, by Sanjay, a charioteer of Dhritrashtra. The great scripture starts with the initial verse: Dharamchetray Kuruchetray samveta youyoutsvah, mamkah Pandavshchaivah kimkurwat Sanjayah( Dhritrashtra asks Sanjay to tell him that how in the battlefield his sons’ soldiers are arrayed against the sons of Pandavas, in the battlefield of Kurchetra) . And then it starts with Krishna enlightening Arjuna on various aspects of life and even on certain metaphysical aspects which none of the scriptures thus far have ever dared to venture, let alone provide an insight into it. Krishna’s immortal teaching to Arjuna urging him to fight his war when he says: ‘ O Arjuna, it is your duty to fight this war forgetting all about its consequences, for the duty of a soldier is only to fight and not to reflect on its outcome. If you win, O Parha( archer) you will enjoy the power of earth, whereas if you are killed fighting your war, you will gain your place in the heaven. But neither heaven nor the earthly power will come to you, if you simply relinquish your war, dubbing it as a war of attrition; but in the process , you will be tainted for all your life, a stigma of a coward will stick to you as long as you live and even after you die, the taint and stigma will attach to your name eternally.
Gita is the first scripture ever written which throws the light on metaphysical aspects which, thus far, has remained shrouded in the mystery and in the realms of human speculation. The existence of soul or consciousness which is the driving force of human body found its expression and manifestation in Gita when Lord says,’ Bansasi jirnani yathaviahaya, navnani grihnati naroparani, tatha sarirani vihay jirna, naynani sangyati navani dehi’( As the attire or apparel gets worn out, we feel the need for their replacement, likewise when the soul feels that its purpose of the existing body is achieved, it perseveres to acquire a new body). Significantly, the scientists too of late have been converging to the belief of ‘consciousness’ being the sole driving force of the body and that the consciousness or soul transmigrates into the next body for fulfillment of its unfulfilled urges and desires. In the latest revelation by the researchers and scientists, Eben Alexander, a Harvard Neuro Surgeon in his new book , Life after death, has included the cases of so many individuals to corroborate the fact that life exists after death and that consciousness is reborn again in different physical costumes.
Gita is one such scripture which is above the parameters of any religion or religions as such. And to paraphrase it as ‘Hindu doctrine’ would amount to undermining the oceanic depth of the scripture by simply stereotyping it in a straitjacket of definition, which at no point professes or propagates the values of any particular religion. It simply talks of leading a life in a best way possible while leaving the judgment of one’s karma in the hands of Creator. It is the finest transcendental doctrine to ever have been preached on earth. Besides, the scripture never refers to Hindus or Hinduism or for that matter any other religion by its name. It simply addresses Arjuna as Bharata, signifying the people of Bharat Varsha. The priceless scripture, which is considered to be a part of Upanishad, only seeks to glorify the human life as the culmination of all lives and a key to attain liberation from cycle of birth and death. It scripts the path of a soldier in the battlefield to a yogi in the path of meditation towards god realization. It inspires a soldier going in the battlefield to kill his enemies, to a student taking on his/ her examination; it shows the path to a king and also to the gravest sinner on earth. In other words, it is for one and all, a panacea for all cure.
The recent long standing demand of the republic raised by Sushma Swaraj on behalf of people to make Gita as a national scripture is therefore a laudable step which needs to be appreciated by one and all. When Sushma says that she was inspired by the great scripture even in the capacity of an external affairs minister while formulating the policy decisions, she is obviously telling about her own unique experience. Long ago, the ex- president of India, Dr Abdul Kalam Azad too took a huge inspiration from Gita when he had failed to clear his air force exams to become a fighter pilot where his position was ninth but only eight candidates were selected for the post. He, in a state of mental depression, went to Rishikesh where he heard the discourse on Gita which enormously inspired him to rediscover the moorings of his life. Further, Julius Robert Openheimer, father of the atom bomb of USA, when he was put on trial , he had famously taken the refuge under Gita. He has famously said in a program: ‘We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.
The biggest bane of Indian republic is this: anything which is related with the soul of the nation is invariably and inevitably projected in the colour and costume of Hinduism to give it a communal or a majoritarian tag. And even if it is, so be it, but Gita should find its primacy of place and the most deserving space in Indian psyche. The secularists might even contemptuously seek to dismiss it as some form of ‘myth’ having no historicity to corroborate its existence, but even then the precious worth of Gita cannot be undermined or berated, especially so when a Hindu nationalist Mr Narendra Modi is the Prime minister of this republic and heading a majority government. The stridency of voice of opposition to any such decision to make Gita as the national scripture has begun pouring in, but the national resolve to elevate the timeless truth as enshrined in Gita which even inspired and motivated our Constitution makers, as our national scripture cannot and should not be delayed. Let Prime minister Modi come forward to implement the resolve of this republic to elevate Gita as our national scripture. Nation is watching him doing this great duty toward India and mankind.
