Bhagavad Gita Sara - Essence of the Gita Part 2
Chapter Two - The Wise Grieve Not
From Shankara’s most highly acclaimed commentary on the Gita up to the present day, most of the great Mahatmas have begun their commentaries with the 11th verse of the second chapter, when the Lord first spoke to Arjuna:
Asocyan anvasocas tvam prajnavadams ca bhasase gatasun agatasums ca nanusocanti panditah
You are grieving over those who are not fit to be grieved for, Though you speak words like a man of great wisdom;
For the wise grieve neither over the living nor over the dead.
The Lord was declaring the basic foolish error in Arjuna’s reasoning by making him understand that he was talking high philosophy without knowing what was what. The Lord declared the truth that Arjuna did not have pity for those who were arrayed in battle against him, but rather it was self-pity.
A man of philosophy does not bother if a man is dead or alive, for both are are the same from the stand-point of the immortal soul. It is with this teaching that the Lord Sri Krishna is going to start. But Bhagavan Sri Ramana is beautifully going to start with the very first verse of the second chapter because of it’s significance in pointing out the very purpose of the entire Gita.
Qualified to Hear God Sing
In any text on Vedanta, the first verse should be able to say four important things about the text. The four are; first, who is fit to read this book? For instance, children without the developed ability to properly understand should not read this book. They are not Adhikari. Adhikari is a very important term in Vedanta; it means ‘the qualified one, the one who is fit for this particular purpose’. So the first qualification is; who may be considered fit to hear the narration concerning Bhagavan? Therefore the first thing told, the first verse chosen by Sri Ramana, declares who is the Adhikari. The Adhikari is literally described in the first verse of Chapter two:
Sanjaya uvaacha:
Tam tathaa kripayaavishtam ashrupoornaakulekshanam;
Visheedantam-idam vaakyam-uvaacha madhusoodanah.
Sanjaya said:
To him who eyes were brimming with tears, and whose heart was heavy with a sense of pity and grief,
Madhusudana (Lord Krishna) spoke.
The Light and the Truth of God
The term Maha Bharata itself denotes a spiritual meaning. Bharata is the name of that Purana, and also the name of India. People have said that the name is derived from the name of the King ruling ancient India. But then we ask what was the name of the land before that king’s incarnation? There would have been thousands of kings, why should the name of that one be taken for the name of the entire country? The actual meaning of Maha Bharata is that which contains all wisdom. The wisdom means the jnana, not only of the Lord, but the jnana of this world also. Bharata is derived from the root “Bha” meaning light; and light means knowledge.
Whenever you do not understand a passage of scripture, you ask: “Can you throw some light on this, I do not understand it?” Here, knowledge and light become synonyms. Knowledge is only metaphorically referred to as light. ‘Bha’ is the root, bhati means ‘it shines’, bhami means ‘I shine’, bhasi means ‘you shine’. So bhasa is the light that comes out. Therefore, ‘bharata’ is the one who is fully engaged in that knowledge, solely wanting the knowledge of the Lord.
The Upanishads were being taught perhaps 5,000 to 6,000 years ago in India. It is believed that at that time there was no other place in the world that equaled the Indian civilization. While the world outside India was mainly inhabited by non-evolved “cave dwelling” civilizations, concerned mainly with the external effort of preservation of the body, India’s inhabitants were striving to enter the “cave of the heart.” They were preparing to realize the internal Divinity of their True Nature. And so the term ‘Bharata’ came to India itself because:
Bhayam ritaha bharataha bhayam ritam bharatam
Ritam refers to a book, while ritam refers to people. So as far as the book is concerned- ‘bhayam ritam’, it is steeped in the supreme knowledge and thus it is called ‘Bharatam’. The entire book is supposed to be knowledge, and that knowledge has been brought to the mind of the people of India in this portion called the Bhagavad Gita.
Posted by Swami Sadasivananda at 5/7/2011 10:16 AM 
Categories: AIDS TO SPIRITUALITY, The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita
Tags: Ramana Maharshi Bhagavad Gita
Categories: AIDS TO SPIRITUALITY, The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita
Tags: Ramana Maharshi Bhagavad Gita
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