Summary points from the Lecture on the Bhagavad Gita for the Youth by Dr. Vyasanakere Prabhanjanacharya

by Sunder and Pavamaan

Date    :           20 Nov 2005, 2.30-6.30 pm

Venue :           Vijayabharathi High School, Girinagar

The purpose of this document is to bring out some summary points from the lecture delivered by Dr. Vyasanakere Prabhanajanacharya as a part of the “Madhvacharya for the Youth” series conducted under the auspicies of Sri Vyasa Madhva Samshodhana Pratishthana.  The purpose of the workshop is to introduce The Bhagavad Gita as a text and a way of life to the youth focusing on the pragmatic interpretations and actionables from the epic. This document does not claim to be a comprehensive and accurate assimilation of the lecture delivered, but seeks to capture some glimpses from the same.  Any error in the process is seriously regretted.

Following are the salient points of the lecture:

• The lecture started with paying obeisance to God, Vayu and Gurus.
• There is an urgent need to educate the youth about philosophy.  Recalling the words of Sri Prahlada from Bhagavatha, philosophy is to be learnt and practices only by the youth.
• Bhagavad Gita is a text which gets written about and spoken about but has not been comprehensively understood by anyone.
• It has been translated into maximum number of Indian as well as foreign languages.
• It appears in the sixth chapter of Sri Mahabharatha in the Bheeshama Parva and it is a upaparva (sub-chapter).  The Mahabharatha, as acknowledged even by foreign philosophers such as Max Mueller, equals the rest of the philosophical works put together in terms of the sheer size and the vastness of the topics that it covers.
• Interestingly the Bhagavad Gita is the smallest work, but most comprehensive in it’s coverage of every aspect of philosophy.  Perhaps there is no area of our life (and beyond) that it does not impact.
• The speaker is Sri Krishna (Paramatma) and the listener is Arjuna (Jeeva).
• The Gita is a message of peace in a deadly battlefield.  The Mahabharatha war was fought with the deadliest of weapons between the greatest warriors of the times.  The impact of the war was so great that birds flying overhead fell dead due to the sound generated by the war.  The Gita is a message that was delivered in such a petrifying atmosphere.  No one other than Lord Krishna, the most powerful being could have spoken in this atmosphere.
• This deadly war was fought between cousins indicating it was within a family.  This is similar to the internal wars that go on in our minds, which are equally deadly as internal enemies are always more dangerous than external ones.  It is possible to shut out the external enemies but that cannot be done for the internal ones.
• The issues during the war are similar to what the people especially the youth of today face.  The answer to both the issue-the Mahabharatha war and the turmoil in our minds is the same-the Bhagavad Gita.  The first person to bring to light the linkages between the Mahabharatha and the Gita was Sri Madhvacharya.  He has written two books on the Gita- Gita Tatparya and Gita Bhashya and he has written the Mahabharata Tatparyanirnaya.  Here he says that the Gita is the darshana (theory) and the Mahabharata is the nidarshana (illustration).
• Many people feel that since there is a stark contrast between the Gita, the message of peace and the Mahabharatha war, the war of destruction, probably the Gita has been interpolated (added later) to the Mahabharatha. This is not true and is not supported by any argument.  It must be understood that the Gita was recited by the omnipotent force, Sri Krishna and not an ordinary human being. 
• The start of the Gita is with Arjuna refusing to fight the war stating that he is overcome by emotions at the thought of killing his own people for the purpose of gaining a kingdom.  He says that the ruling over a kingdom does not interest him.  Moreover killing his kith and kin will only bring about adharma all over. 
• He says that he has desire for Shreyas and not Preyas.  This is an important differentiation between the two.  Shreyas is a term that cannot be translated into English.  It is to be understood as a happiness of the higher order which one gets by performing superior duties. Shreyas is attained in the life after death.  While Preyas is the happiness that one gets in this world and which is not permanent in nature.  One should always target Shreyas and not merely Preyas.
• Arjuna teaches us the following important lessons: 
• How to ask the right questions to clarify your mind of the distresses?  He presents his argumentation on why he does not want to fight in a logical and sequential manner.  This gives a scope for the person answering the questions to be rational similarly.  Illogical questioning can never be answered logically.
• Whom to ask the questions?  He asks none other than Sri Krishna, the most powerful and knowledgeable person to clarify his doubts.  There is no point in asking questions to people who themselves do not have an adequate knowledge to answer them.
• What kind of an answer must one seek?  He seeks a firm (dridha) answer, not one which is vague and wavering.
• One need not have an inferiority complex while asking questions.  Just as one should not hide one’s illnesses from a doctor, one should not hide one’s doubts from his Guru.  Here Arjuna seeks answers from Sri Krishna as a friend but as Jagatjanmadhiakaraka (the Creator of the universe)
• A seeker of knowledge should forsake all other pleasures.  Just like Nachiketa refuses anything other than the answers for is question from Lord Yama, Arjuna refuses to accept anything else such as a kingdom in lieu of the answers to his questions.  The Kathopanishad was brought to light from the questions that Nachiketa asked and the Bhagavad Gita was born out of the questions asked by Arjuna.

Reading the first chapter of the Gita called the Arjunavishadayoga is very important as should not be skipped.  It presents the questions that Arjuna has in his mind.  The rest of Gita is a series of answers that Sri Krishna gives to these questions.

• Preyas gives us wealth but not happiness.  Shreyas gives us knowledge and permanent bliss.
• For seeking Shreyas one must seek knowledge and happiness from within.  Antahasukha is essential for Shreyas.  While Preyas is welcome in some measure, one should not chase it all his life.  Preyas should be minimized and Shreyas has to be maximized.
• Hence one’s goal in life should be to seek Shreyas.  A goalless life cannot be considered a successful one.
• The body needs food while the soul needs knowledge to sustain.
• The death to the body is a certainty but the soul is eternal.  Hence one should not feel the sorrow when the body dies since it is bound to do get destroyed.
• When one is fighting a war people who are evil and people who support evil both should be destroyed.  Just as the entire pot of poisoned milk has to be discarded, the entire army of the Kauravas which has poison (duryodhana, dusshasana etc) and milk (Bheeshma, Drona and Karna) has to be destroyed.  Arjuna has to perform this duty without any attachment towards his kith and kin.
• One of the most important shlokas of the Gita is “Karmanye Vadhikaraste…..”.  A popular interpretation is that one should not have any desires attached to the fruits of ones duties.  This would mean that one should be desire-less in life.  It appears that this goes against the thought expressed by Sri Madhvacharya in other writings where he says that it is impractical to be desire-less.   The right explanation was given by Sri Madhvacharya himself.  He has said that every action has two types of fruits-Primary fruit and the secondary fruit.  Primary fruit of any action is to please Lord Vishnu (Sri Vishnu Preetyartham) and the secondary fruits are all the other fruits such as progress of oneself and his family members.  One must always seek the primary fruit and never the secondary one.  Thus the correct interpretation of this shloka is that one has a right over one’s actions and over the primary fruit. 
• The fruits of all actions should be offered at the feet of Lord Krishna for it to be any consequence.  Hence one should perform superior duties and offer it to God to get the best benefits.
• Gita has thus very comprehensive answers to all the questions.
• The other important lesson from the Gita is that God is all pervasive and omnipresent.  Lord Krishna does not have any boundaries for existence.
• What is prayer or Bhagavadaradhane?  Performing one’s duties without expecting the fruits of the same and offering the same at the lotus field of Lord Krishna.  Thus a doctor performing an operation, a carpenter cutting wood all are praying if they offer the actions to the Lord.  Prayer should not be understood in the limited concept of the set of rituals one performs as Devapuja but in a large context.  However Devapuja should not ignored and must be performed.
• Gita teaches us the important lesson to be self-dependent.  The onus of acquiring the right knowledge and performing one’s duties according to the rules set by the Lord is entirely on us.  Ignorance is not an excuse.
• God accepts whatever is offered to him with Bhakti.  If one starts to pursue Sadhana late in life, the Lord accepts that too from that time onwards.
• There is nothing as pure and sublime as knowledge.  Hence of all the yagnas, Gnana Yagna is most dear to the Lord.
• Finally Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to carefully consider the answers he has given to his questions and think it through thoroughly.  This is the method of the study of our scriptures, unlike what is popularly believed that our scriptures force themselves onto people’s mind without giving them time to think.
• Further to this, Arjuna says that he would like to see Lord Krishna fully.  At this point in time Krishna tells him that no one can see him with ordinary eyes but would need special eyes (gnanachakshu) to perceive him and grants them to Arjuna who sees the Vishwaroopa of Lord Krishna.
• Followers of Bhagavad Gita will lead a balanced life full of happiness both in this world (aihika) and world beyond (paraloukika).