“सर्वोपनिषदोगावोदोग्धागोपालनन्दनः। पार्थोवत्सःसुधीर्भोक्तादुग्धंगीतामृतंमहत्॥४॥
“Sarvaopanishadogaavodogdhaa Gopala Nandanaha, Parthovatsahsudheerbhokta, dugdhamGeetamritammahat.”
The meaning of this shloka which is mentioned in Shrimad Bhagavad GeetaDhyanam and also in Shree GeetaMahatmyam is as follows, All the Upanishads(scriptures) are like cows and their milker is the son of the cowherd Vasudeva, i.e. Bhagawan Krishna. The son of Pruthai e. Arjuna, is the calf, and the men of pure intellect are the drinkers of this milk and this supreme nectar of Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta is the highest knowledge that liberates us from the worldly sorrows. The Vedas are the breath of the Lord and the Upanishads are the very essence of the Vedas and hence are compared to cows here and the milk is compared to the divine knowledge of Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta. The implied meaning is that the knowledge that one attains through a devoted and thorough study of Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta equals the study of all our Vedas. This highest wisdom narrated by Bhagwan Krishna is not only to enlighten Arjuna but to illuminate the entire mankind.
NEED FOR THE BHAGAVAD GITA
Let’s understand this with a modern day example. Whenever we purchase a new mobile, we get a small booklet along with it, which contains all the information about the device, its structure, functions, do’s and don’ts of our mobile and we know that experts say that it is important to study this manual for efficient use of the mobile phone. But usually we operate the mobile without even looking at the manual and it works well too, so we continue as it is. We hardly realise that by ignoring the manual, we remain ignorant to the various important features or advanced settings of our mobile. As the phone gets old, there is some or the other functional glitch in our mobile and we take it to a mobile expert. There we realise that we were completely unaware of many of the most important features of the device. But by then,the mobile is already old and we are ready to abandon it, thus wasting many of its important functions.
MANUAL FOR MODERN LIFE
Similarly, Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta is the manual of living the human life completely, efficiently and understanding the ultimate truth or goal of human birth. It is a guide that helps us live our life in totality. We can say, it is like a map or a modern day GPS that gives us a systematic overview of the territory of our life, guiding us through the varied roads, their benefits and pitfalls, offering recommendations, enabling us to decide which path to follow and which path to overlook, thus helping us to complete this journey of human life smoothly and blissfully, but we choose to remain ignorant to this immense wisdom and literally waste our precious human life.
LIFE LESSONS
When we study the Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta, which has 700 shlokas ( verses), the first verse itself begins with the word ‘Dharma,’ (Dharma here does not mean religion, caste or creed), but rather it’s appropriate meaning is ‘Duties or Responsibilities’. So the beginning is to understand our duties and responsibilities.
The last shloka (700th verse) of Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta ends with word ,’Mama’, which means ‘My’. Hence, when put together, the literal meaning of the first and the last word of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is ‘Duty My(Mine)’.But then, we never say ‘Duty My(Mine)’, here our Geeta teaches us the first important lesson of our life and that is, when it is a question of ‘Duty and Me’, it is ‘Duty’, which has to come first and ‘I’ is supposed to be last.
Thus, when we delve deeper, we understand that the very essence of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita in just two words is “My responsibilities(My duties).”
And so begins the first chapter of Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta, which is named as ‘ArjunaVishaad Yoga’. Vishaad means sorrow or profound grief. Even though Arjuna is a kshatriya, a warrior, a great archer and the knower of many Astra and shastras, still after realising that he has to fight his own relatives, teachers, friends, his mind becomes agitated , due to which he experiences extreme agony leading to forgetting his duties and responsibilities.
As we contemplate further, we realise that Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta is not just for Arjuna but also for all of us, as we too have to face many such tough situations in life, where we experience a lot of stress and agitation due to our ignorance and our false identification of the situation. It’s our negative approach, that clouds our vision towards a strategic outlook and diverts us to a more tactical one.
It is at this point, that we need a guru, a counselor, a mentor and a friend, who can gradually remove our ignorance and enlighten us with the true knowledge of our responsibilities, thereby bringing a radical change in our thought process and enabling us to view the beautiful, vibrant butterfly, beyond the cocoon of our ignorance.
This Jagatguru, who rescues Arjuna and all of us from the grief of ignorance is none other than our Beloved Bhagwan Shree Krishna. The study of Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta is a new beginning, that brings about a complete transformation in our mundane life, it’s like a sturdy lighthouse standing tall admist the roaring waves of the oceans and guiding the boats of our life towards the calm and peaceful shore.
This divine wisdom was applicable thousands of years ago and is applicable even today in this modern era of computerisation. The values of Shrimad Bhagavad Geetaare the progressive life codes available to us all.
Written by Dr.SunitaVivekUpadhyay. (Teaching Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta to children and adults)
Contact: drsvshukla@gmail.com
