Showing posts with label Gita Jayanti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gita Jayanti. Show all posts

Monday, 4 December 2017

Gita Jayanti and Gita Dhyanam - Meditation on The Gita

Few days ago, 30th Nov 2017 was the Anniversary of Gita Jayanti - the day on which about 5000 years ago, Lord Krishna spoke Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna in the battle of Kurukshetra. The place where Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita is located at a place called as Jyotisaar Kurukestra, state of Haryana which is about 160 Kms from Delhi and well connected by a Train Station and road. Train journey takes about 2 and haif hours and the place Jyotisar is located at a distance of 8 km from the railway station.
Gita Dhyanam is a prayers or meditation on Lord Krishna, prayers to the Great Rishi Veda Vyasa, the author of Bhagavad Gita which is a part of Mahabharata. These prayer verses are written by a great acharya by name Madhusudana Saraswati before he wrote his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. The name of his commentary is called Gudhartha Dipika, a lamp which illumines the hidden and deeper meanings of the Bhagavad Gita. It is a very famous commentary on the Gita. Thus, before starting the study actual Gita, it has become customary to study these nine verses of Dhyana Sloka written by this Acharya,to invoke auspiciousness, grace of the Lord  and removal of obstacles and successfully complete the study of the great scripture Bhagavad Gita. I came across these verses, read them and found them to be profound. In fact, we all must have heard these verses many times during our growing up years. I have decided to collect and post this as an article for the benefit of myself and my readers. I had to bit of research on the actual author of Gita Dhyanam verses and found out that the author is not Sripad ShankaraCharya but, only the verse 5 is ascribed to him. Also, I had to look at various versions of the verses available on the net and which one is easy to read and recite and as close as possible to the original Sanskrit version.
 
Lord Sri Krishna
1.Om Parthaya prathi boditham bhagawathaa narayanena swayam,
   Vyasaena grahitham Purana muninaa madhye Mahabaratham,
   Advaithamrutha varshaneem bhagawtheem ashta dasa dhyayineem,
   Ambaa thwaam anusandadhami bhagwad geethaa bhava dweshineem.
Om.O Bhagavad Gita, with which Partha was illumined by Lord Narayana Himself, and which was composed within the Mahabharata by the ancient sage, Vyasa, O Divine Mother, the destroyer of rebirth, the showerer of the nectar of Advaita, and consisting of eighteen discourses—upon Thee, O Gita, Oaffectionate Mother, I meditate!

2. Namosthuthe Vyasa vishala budhe
    phullaravindata tha pathra nethra
    Yena thwayaa Bharatha thaila poorna
    prajjvalitho jnanamaya pradheepa.
Salutations to Vyasa, of broad intellect and with eyes like the petals of a full-blown lotus, by whom the lamp of knowledge, filled with the oil of the Mahabharata, has been lighted!

3.Prapanna parijataya
   totra vetraika panaye
   Jnana mudhraaya Krishnaaya
   geethamritha duhe namah.
Salutations to Lord Krishna, the Parijata or the Kalpataru or the bestower of all desires for those who take refuge in Him, the holder of the whip in one hand, the holder of the symbol of divine knowledge and the milker of the divine nectar of the Bhagavad Gita!

4.Sarvaopanishadho gaavo
   dogdhaa Gopala Nandanah,
   Parthoo vathsa sudheer bhokthaa
   dugdam Geetamritham mahath.
All the Upanishads are the cows; the milker is Krishna; the cowherd boy, Partha (Arjuna), is the calf; men of purified intellect are the drinkers; the milk is the great nectar of the Gita.

5.Vasudeva sutham devam
    kamsa Chanoora mardhanam,
    Devaki paramanandam
    Krishnam vande Jagat Gurum.
I salute Sri Krishna, the world-teacher, son of Vasudeva, the destroyer of Kamsa         and Chanura, the supreme bliss of Devaki!

6.Bheeshma drona thata jayadradha jalaa , Gandhaara neelothphala,
   Shalyaaa grahavathee , kripena vahanee , karnena Velakulaa,
   Aswathama Vikarnaa ghora Makaraa Duryodhana varthinee,
   Sotheerno kalu Pandavai , rana nadhee kaivarthaka Kesava.
With Kesava as the helmsman, verily was crossed by the Pandavas the battle-river, whose banks were Bhishma and Drona, whose water was Jayadratha, whose blue lotus was the king of Gandhara       Sakuni, whose crocodile was Salya, whose current was   Kripa, whose billow was Karna, whose terrible alligators were Vikarna and Asvatthama, whose whirlpool was Duryodhana.

7.Parashrayaa vacha sarojamamalam Geethartha gandothkatam,
   Nanakhyanaka kesaram harikatha sambodhanaa bodhitham,
   Loke sajjana shat padairaharaha pepeyamaanam mudhaa,
   Bhooyad Bharatha pankajam kali mala pradhwamsina shreyase.
May this lotus of the Mahabharata, born in the lake of the words of Vyasa, sweet with the fragrance of the meaning of the Gita, with many stories as its stamens, fully opened by the discourses of Hari, the destroyer of the sins of Kali, and drunk     joyously by the bees of good men in the world, become day by day the bestower of good to us!

8.Mookam karoti vaachaalam pangum langhayate girim;
   Yatkripaa tamaham vande Paramananda madhavam.
I salute that Madhava, the source of supreme bliss, whose Grace makes the dumb eloquent and the cripple cross mountains!

9.Yam brahmaVaruna indrua Rudra maruthsthunvanthi divyai sthavai,
   Vedai saang padakrama upanishadair gayanthi yam SAmaga,
   Dhyanasthitha thadgadaina manasa pasyanthi yam Yogino,
   Yasyaantham na vidhu surasura ganaa devaaya tasmai nama.

Salutations to that God whom Brahma, Indra, Varuna, Rudra and the Maruts praise with divine hymns, of whom the Sama-chanters sing by the Vedas and their Angas (in the Pada and Krama methods), and by the Upanishads; whom the Yogis see with their minds absorbed in Him through meditation, and whose ends, the hosts of Devas and Asuras can never be found - unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead I offer my humble obeisance’s.

Here is the link to download the PDF version of Gita Dhyanam.

Monday, 12 December 2016

Gita Jayanti and Jyotisar

Few days ago, 8thDec was the day of Gita Jayanti,the day of the Advent of Srimad Bhagavad-Gita i,e  the day on which Lord Sri Krishna spoke Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra war.As per Hindu calender, it was a Shukla Ekadashi, 11th day of the waxing moon of Margashirsha month.Also known as Gitopanisad, Srimad Bhagavad Gita contains the essence of Vedic knowledge and one of the most important Upanisads in Vedic literature.The speaker of Bhagavad-Gita is Lord Sri Krishna who is mentioned as Bhagavan or the Supreme God in every page of Gita and, the same is confirmed by all the great acharyas (spiritual masters) like Shankaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Nimbarka, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and many other authorities of Vedic knowledge.
Thus about 5000 years ago, on this very day Gita was spoken by Lord Krishna to Arjuna, who accepted him as a spiritual master. Arjuna is confused about his duty and surrendered to Lord Krishna and requested him to guide him and clarify his doubts.This is when, Lord Krishna starts speaking to Arjuna.
JYOTISAR - The place where Lord Krishna spoke the Gita

JYOTISAR - The place where Lord Krishna spoke the Gita


The subject of the Bhagavad-Gita entails the comprehension of 5 basic truths: Isvara (the Supreme Lord), jiva (the living entity), prakrti (nature), kala (eternal time) and karma (activity) are all explained in the Bhagavad-Gita. Out of these five, the Lord, the living entities, material nature and time are eternal. The manifestation of prakrti may be temporary, but it is not false. Some philosophers say that the manifestation of material nature is false, but according to the philosophy of Bhagavad-Gita, this is not so. However, the karma, is not eternal. We are suffering or enjoying the results of our activities from time immemorial, but we can change the results of our karma, or our activity, and this change depends on the perfection of our knowledge. We are engaged in various activities. Undoubtedly we do not know what sort of activities we should adopt to gain relief from the actions and reactions of all these activities, but this is also explained in the Bhagavad-Gita.

Sometimes People say that Kurukshetra does not exist and that it's a mythological place, a symbol of the body or Kshetra and the senses. They say it is an allegory to explain certain truths.But,the fact is that Kurukshetra is a place in Haryana State of India. It is located at a 2 hour journey from New Delhi by Train and about by by Bus takes about 3 and haif hours.While travelling by bus there is a stop called “Pipli” on Kurukshetra by-pass. From there catch an auto-rickshaw to reach ISKCON Main Bazaar temple (6 km) and then see the holy places with the assistance from the local devotees, or at a nominal cost one can take the auto-rickshaw to visit all the important places to be seen in and around Kurukshetra.There are so many old temples and historic places to see in and around Kurukshetra that once,one is lucky enough to visit this places, no longer considers the place Kurukshetra and the historical incidents as a myth. One can see everything that is mentioned in the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita.
One can visit “JYOTISAR”a place in Kurukshetra which is the Exact Spot where Lord Sri Krishna spoke Srimad Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna.Today, as a testimony at the place a huge banyan tree can be seen.During the rule of Moghuls, the tree was cut down but, the tree again grew back. What is seen today is the tree that came back to life from the roots of the original tree.There is a board placed on the tree in which is written “The immortal banyan tree witness of the celestial song Bhagavad-Gita”. In fact this place is named as the “Gitopadesh sthal - place where the Bhagavad-Gita was spoken”.Doing the Parikrama or Circumambulation of the tree is considered as a very auspicious.There are a number of historic places and old temples including the recent ones like, ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) which has 3 Temples in Kurukshetra: (1) Sri Krishna-Arjuna Jyotisar Temple which is very next to “Jyotisar”, the exact spot where Lord Sri Krishna spoke Srimad Bhagavad-Gita., (2) Sri Sri Radha-Radha Kant Temple, Main Bazaar (3) A preaching centre in Kurukshetra.
Everyone knows, about the famous incident of Grandsire Bhisma lying on a bed of arrows, asks Arjuna for water to quench his thirst.The problem was and could be
only percieved by ones dear to him (Pandavas - Arjuna), that only the special water of river ganges would be able to quench his thirst.Thus,during the course of discussions between Bhismadeva and Yudhisthira Maharaj,when Bhismadeva asked for water, and Arjuna shot an arrow on the ground from which emanated the sacred Ganga
water which flowed into Bhisma’s mouth like a jet that quenched his thirst. This body of water is called ‘Ban Ganga’ which means that the Ganga that emanated from the e shot of a ‘Ban’ (arrow).Today, you can find a lake called Ban Ganga.
Similarly, you can find other places like,
Karnavadha - a long trench where the wheels of Karna's chariot were stuck before Arjuna killed him.
Parasar/Dvaipain: Parasara Muni, the father of Srila Vyasadeva, had his asrama here, about twenty-five miles south of the town of Thaneswar. Duryodhana hid in
the lake here after running away from battle at the end of the Mahabharata war. He came out of the water when the Pandavas challenged him to fight.
Chakravyuha: At Chakravyuha, 8kms south of Thaneswar, the general Dronacarya organized his army in the shape of a discus (cakra). It is also where Abhimanyu, the
son of Arjuna and Subhadra, was killed.

For further reading and details please visit the link;

Bhagavad Gita - As it is
There are so many versions of Bhagavad Gita written by so many authors but,  I would like to encourage all my readers to read this version called “ Bhagavad Gita – As it is” written by Srila Prabhupad. I remember myself, from childhood reading so many copies of Bhagavad Gita written by different authors but, they did not make much difference to my understanding of the subject matter of Gita. Yes, I would get the dry meaning of the verses and some interpretation  and I actually got more confused and wonder what is it, all about.Then, once I got a copy of Bhagavad Gita As it is by Srila Prabhupad and just by reading the introduction, I was blown away. I could get so much information and knowledge just by the initial few pages that, I then read the whole book like crazy. Everywhere, in the bus, tram, Lunch time, night etc and completed the book in 7 days. Since then, I keep going back to the book, reading it again and again and every time, I find that I find something new