Sampoorna Geetardh

Shri Maharshi Ved Vyas — Shri Krishn Era

Before the advent of Maharshi Ved Vyas, no text of any pedagogical discipline was available in the text form. Departing from this tradition of oral and perceiving words of wisdom and knowledge, he compiled the antecedent physical as well as spiritual knowledge in the textual form of four Vedas, Brahmasutra, Mahabharat, Bhagwad and Geeta and proclaimed that, “Gopal Krishn has condensed the conclusion of all the Upanishad in Geeta to enable the humanity to alleviate itself from pangs of sorrow.” The Heart of all Vedas and the essence of all the Upanishad is Geeta, which was elicited by Krishn and provided sustenance to distraught humanity of reasoned doctrine and approach to perceive the Supreme Being. This has endowed the humanity of the ultimate means of Peace. The sage, from among all his works, earmarked Geeta as the treatise of knowledge and remarked that the Geeta is suitable for being earnestly taken as the driving philosophy of one’s activities of the life. When we have the treatise given to us which was uttered by Krishn himself, why ever shall we need to store other scriptures? The essence of Geeta is explicitly clarified by the verse:

Meaning there is only one holy writ which had been recited by Lord Krishn, the son of Devaki. There is only one spiritual entity worth emulating and the truth which has been specified in that commentary is — the soul. There is nothing immortal other than the soul. What chant has been advised by that sage in Geeta? Om! “Arjun, Om is the name of the eternal spiritual being. Chant Om and meditate upon me. There is only one Dharm — to serve the spiritual being described in Geeta. Place him in your heart with reverence. Therefore, Geeta has remained your own scripture. Krishn is the messenger of the holy sages who have described the divine creator as the Universal truth over the thousands years of age. Many sages have said that one may express their corporeal as well as eternal desires from the God, be awed by the God and not to believe in other deities — has already been proclaimed by many sages, but only the Geeta explicitly shows the way to attain spirituality and fathom the distance on the way of attaining it — refer to “Sampoorna Geethardh”.

Geeta not only gives spiritual peace, it also makes it easier to attain eternal and enduring alleviation. In order to perceive it please refer to the universally acclaimed commentary — “Sampoorna Geethardh”. Although Geeta is universally acclaimed, it has not been able to take place of doctrine or literature of any religion or sect, because religious sects are always cinched by one or the other dictum or ordain. The Geeta published in India is a legacy of the Universal Wisdom. The Geeta is the ethereal heritage of India, the spiritual country. As such, it should be treated as national literature — an effort may be directed at alleviating the humanity from the pathos of the tradition of class discrimination, conflicts and altercation and accord peace.

Divine Messages of the Holy Saints (Primeval to Modern Times)

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  Shree Vedic Saints (Primeval Age — Narayan Sukta) The Supreme Being prevailing in each speck is but the truth. The only way to attain Nirvana is to understand it.
• Bhagwan Shree Ram (Treta — Millions of years ago — Ramayan) Aspirant of benediction without praying to the Supreme Being is an ignoramus.
• Yogeshwar Shree Krishn (5200 years ago — Geeta) The God is the only truth. Achievement of the divinity is only possible through meditation. Praying to the idols of Deities is only done by the morons.
• Saints Moosa (3000 years ago — Judaism) As you revoked your trust from the God, made idols — He is unhappy. Begin praying to him.
• Saint Jarathustra (2700 years ago — Zoroastrian Religion) Meditate upon Ahurmazd to eradicate the evils inhibiting your heart, which are the root causes of all the sorrows.
• Mahavir Swami (2600 years ago — Jain Scriptures) Soul is the truth; By observance of austere penance it could be learnt in this birth itself.
• Gautam Buddha (2500 years ago — Mahaparinirvan Sutta) I have attained that sublime ultimate stage, which was attained by the earlier saints. This is Nirvana.
• Jesus Christ (2000 years ago — Christianity) Divinity could only be achieved by prayers. Come to me. Then only you would be called the son of the God.
• Hajrat Mohammed Saheb (1400 years ago — Islam) “La III-Allah Muhammad-ur Rasul-Allah” — There is none worthy of prayers other than the all-pervading God. Mohammed et al are holy saints.
• Aadi Shankaracharya (1200 years ago) The worldly life is futile. The only true being is the name of the Creator.
• Saint Kabir (600 years ago) The name of Ram is ultimate, all else is futile. The beginning, middle and the end is nothing but the chant of Ram. Chant the name of Ram, which only is subliminal.
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  Guru Nanak (500 years ago) “Ek Omkar Satguru Prasadi”. Only an Omkar is true being, but it is a favour of the holy teacher.
• Swami Dayanand Saraswati (200 years ago) Pray only to the everlasting, immortal one God. The cardinal name of this Almighty is Om.
• Swami Shri Paramanandji (1912 – 1969 A.D.) When the Almighty bestows benevolence, the enemies turn friends and adversities become Fortunateness. The God is omnipresent.

Uniform Dharm Principles

Geeta Is the Pure Manusmriti

Knowledge derived from Geeta is the pure Manusmriti. Geeta appeared even before the original man Manu — ‘Imam vivaswateh yogam proktavanaham vyayam’ (4.10). Arjun! I told about this indestructible happening to Sun at the beginning of time and Sun told it to Manu. Manu listened to it and carried it in his memory because what he heard could be carried only in Manu’s smriti (memory). Manu told the same thing to King Ikshwaku. The Rajarshis from Ikshwaku knew it and during this important period this indestructible happening disappeared from this earth. Initially there was a tradition of listening and memorizing. It was not even thought that it could be documented. Manu Maharaj carried it in his psychological memory and created the tradition of memory. Thus this knowledge derived from Geeta is the pure Manusmriti.

The Lord had imparted this knowledge to the Sun even before he gave it to Manu, so why don’t we call it Suryasmriti? In fact the Sun is that part of the Light, the Almighty that is the creator of this universe. Lord Shri Krishna says, ‘I am the father of the ultimate life stream sperm, and the nature is the womb that nurtures it’. The Sun is the originator. Sun is that ultimate power of the Lord that designed the humans. It is not a personality and where the enlightened power created the humans the same power was transferred the knowledge based on Geeta that is it was transferred to the Sun. Sun told the same to his son Manu thus it is called Manusmriti. Sun is not a person, it is the source.

Lord Shri Krishna says – ‘I am going to say that same ancient Yoga for you now. You are my beloved disciple, true friend.’ Arjun was intelligent, true worthy. He reeled out a chain of questions like you were born just; the Sun was born ages ago. How do I accept that ‘You told this to the Sun’? He asked some twenty twenty-five questions of this type. By the time Geeta came to conclusion all his questions were answered, at that juncture the Lord Himself raised the questions Arjun could not muster up and were in his benefit and clarified the same. At the end of it all the Lord said, ‘Arjun! Did you listen to my advice in concentration? Was your ignorance raised out of desire has vanished?’ Arjun said,

Nashto moha smritirlabdha twatprasadanmayachyut |
Sthitohsmi gatasandehah karishye vachanam tava || 18/73

Hey Lord, my desires have subsided. I have gotten memory. I have not only listened but I am carrying it as part of system now. I will abide by your orders, and will hold the war. He picked up his bow, warred, won, and established an empire of the pure dharma and in the form of a religious scripture that original Dharmashastra Geeta again came in circulation.

Geeta is source religious scripture. This is the Manusmriti that was embedded in memory by Arjuna. There is a reference to two Geeta in front of Manu – One gotten from the Father, the second, the Vedas which appeared in front of Manu. There was no third thing that appeared Manu’s time. Those days documentation was not a way, paper & pen were not common thus there was the tradition of listening to the knowledge and making it part of the memory. Manu, the source of human kind, the first human gave the honor of shruti (listening) to Vedas and memory to Geeta. Vedas appeared in front of Manu, listen to them, they are meant for listening. Even if you may forget them later onwards there is no harm but Geeta is smriti, you should always remember it. This is that heavenly psalm from the humankind that will forever give you life, peace and everlasting prosperity.

The Lord said – Arjun! If you will not listen to my advice because of your ego you will cease to exist, that is, the one who disrespects the advices of Geeta will become extinct. In the last psalm of episode fifteen the Lord said (15.20) “Iti guhyatamam shastramidamuktam mayanagha” ‘I have uttered the most confidential of the confidential science’. By learning it you will acquire all the knowledge and ultimate credit.’ In the last two psalms of episode sixteen it is said – “Yah shastravidhimritsrijya vartane kaamakaaratah” ‘The ones who shun these sciences by getting excited with the vices and pray other operations will not get happiness, prosperity and will neither reach abode.’ So Arjun, “Tasmachchhaastram pramanam te karyaakaryavyavasthitouh” this is the standard science behind management of your tasks and untasks. Study it well and act accordingly. You will be my part, reach that indestructible position and will attain life forever and everlasting peace and prosperity. Geeta is the Manusmriti and as per Lord Shri Krishna Geeta is the religious science, there is no other science, no other memory. The various memories practiced in society today is the fallback of forgetting Geeta. The memories are the solution for machinations of the royalties and a weapon to build walls in the society.

They neither paint a correct picture of Manu’s thoughts neither do they describe Manu’s times. Original Manusmriti Geeta accepts One Lord the Almighty the Truth, and proposes being one with it but currently available about 164 memories do not even talk about the God nor they discuss the ways to reach the Almighty. They limit themselves only to get reservation in the heaven and encourage those who are not there. They don’t ever even refer to Moksha.

PREFACE

It appears that there is no need of any further exposition of the Geeta. Hundreds of commentaries, out of which more than fifty are in Sanskrit, have been attempted so far. But, although there are scores of interpretations, they have a common basis — the Geeta, which is only one. Why, then one may wonder, are there all these divergent opinions and controversies when Yogeshwar Krishn’s message must of necessity have been only one? The proclaimer verily speaks of truth that is only one, but if there are ten listeners they construe his meaning in ten different ways. Our grasp of what has been said is determined by the extent to which we are under the domination of one of the three properties of nature, namely, sattwa (moral virtue and goodness), rajas (passion and moral blindness), and tamas (ignorance and darkness). We cannot comprehend beyond the limitations imposed by these properties. So it is logical that there should be all these disputes about the import of the Geeta — “The Lord’s Song.”

Men fall prey to doubts, not only because many different views are held on a given subject, but also because of the fact that the same principle is often enunciated in different ways and styles at different times. Quite a good many existing commentaries on the Geeta are touched by the current of truth, and yet if one of them — even a just and correct interpretation — is placed among a thousand other interpretations it is almost impossible to recognize it for what it is. Identification of truth is an onerous task, for even falsehood wears the “brows” of truth. The many expositions of the Geeta all profess that they represent truth even though they may not have any inkling of it. As against this, even when quite a good many interpreters did succeed in coming by this truth, for a number of reasons they were prevented from giving a public utterance to it.

The much too common inability to get at the meaning of the Geeta in its true perspective may be attributed to the fact that Krishn was a yogi, an enlightened sage. Only another great and accomplished Soul — man of knowledge and discernment — who has gradually attained to the ultimate spiritual goal discoursed upon by Krishn can realize and reveal the real intent of the Yogeshwar when he preached to his friend and disciple Arjun. What is within one’s mind cannot be fully expressed by mere words. While some of it is communicated by facial expression and gestures, and even by what is named “eloquent” silence, the rest that is still unexpressed is something dynamic and seekers can know it only through action and by actually traversing the path of quest. So only another sage who has himself trodden the path and arrived at Krishn’s sublime state may know what the message of the Geeta really is.

Rather than just reproducing lines from the scripture, he can know and demonstrate its intent and significance, for Krishn’s insights and perceptions are also his insights and perceptions. Since he is a seer himself, he cannot only show the essence but also awaken it in others, and even prompt and enable them to embark on the way that leads to it.

My noble teacher-preceptor, the most revered Sree Shiridi Sai Nath, was a sage of such achievement; and Sampoorna Geetardh is nothing but a compilation of the meaning that was derived by me from my different teachers’ utterances and inner promptings. Nothing that you will find in this exposition belongs to me. And this meaning, as the reader is about to see, embodies a dynamic, action-oriented principle that has to be undertaken and personally gone through by everyone who has taken to the path of spiritual seeking and accomplishment. So long as we are removed from it, he has evidently not set upon the way of worship and meditation but is yet roaming about amidst the maze of certain lifeless stereotypes. So we have to take refuge in a sage — a Soul of the highest attainment, for this is what Krishn has commended. He explicitly admits that the truth he is about to illumine has also been known to and celebrated by other sages. Not once does he profess that only he is aware of this truth or that only he can reveal it. On the contrary he exhorts worshippers to seek haven under a seer and imbibe knowledge from him by an innocent, guileless ministering to his needs. So Krishn has but proclaimed the verities that have also been discovered and witnessed to by other sages of true accomplishment.

The Sanskrit in which the Geeta is bodied forth is so simple and lucid. If we but make a patient and careful perusal of its syntax and the etymology of its words, we can understand most of the Geeta by ourselves. But the difficulty is that we are disinclined to accept what these words really signify. To cite an instance, Krishn has declared in unambiguous terms that true action is the undertaking of yagya. But we yet persist in asserting that all the worldly business in which men are engaged is action. Throwing light upon the nature of yagya, Krishn says that while many yogi undertake it by offering pran (inhaled breath) to apan (exhaled breath), and many sacrifice apan to pran, yet many others regulate both pran and apan to achieve perfect serenity of breath (pranayam). Many sages resign the inclination of their senses to the sacred fire of self-restraint. Thus yagya is said to be contemplation of breath of pran and apan. This is what the composer of the Geeta has recorded. Despite this, however, we adamantly hold that intoning swaha and casting of barley grains, oil seeds, and butter into the altar-fire is yagya. Nothing like this has been even suggested by Yogeshwar Krishn.

How to account for this all too common failure to comprehend the true meaning of the Geeta? Even after a great deal of hairsplitting and cramming, all that we succeed in getting hold of is nothing more than the external framework of its syntactical order. Why perforce, we should find out, do we find ourselves deprived of truth? As a matter of fact, with his birth and growing up a man inherits the paternal legacy of home, shop, land and property, rank and honour, cattle and other livestock, and now-a-days even machinery and appliances.

Precisely in the same way he also inherits certain customs, traditions, and modes of worship: the evil legacy of all the three hundred and thirty million Hindu gods and goddesses who were identified and catalogued long ago as well as of the innumerable various forms of them all over the world. As a child grows up, he observes his parents’, his brothers’ and sisters’, and his neighbours’ way of worship. His family’s beliefs, rites, and ceremonies are thus permanently imprinted on his mind. If his heritage is worship of a goddess, all his life he recites only the name of that goddess. If his patrimony is worship of ghosts and spirits, he cannot but endlessly repeat the names of those ghosts and spirits. So it is that while some of us adhere to Shiv, some others cleave to Krishn, and yet others cling to this or that deity. It is beyond us to forsake them.

If such misguided men ever get a propitious, sacred work like the Geeta, they fail to grasp its real import. It is possible for a man to give up the material possessions he has inherited, but he cannot rid himself of inherited traditions and creeds. He can relinquish material belongings that are his legacy and go far away from them, but even there he is doggedly pursued by the thoughts, beliefs, and usages that have been ineradicably engraved on his mind and heart. He cannot after all cut off his head. It is for this reason that we also construe the truth contained in the Geeta in the light of our inherited assumptions, customs, and modes of worship. If the scripture is in harmony with them and there is no contradiction between the two, we concede its veracity. But we either reject it or twist it to suit our convenience if this is not the case. Is it surprising then that more often than not we miserably fail to comprehend the mysterious knowledge of the Geeta? So this secret continues to remain inscrutable. Sages and noble teacher-preceptors, who have known the Self as well as his kinship with the Supreme Spirit, are on the other hand knowers of the truth that the Geeta embodies. Only they are qualified to say what the Geeta proclaims. For others, however, it remains a secret which they can best resolve by sitting devotedly as earnest disciples near some sage of awareness. This way of realization has been repeatedly emphasized by Krishn.

The Geeta is not a holy book that belongs to any one individual, caste, group, school, sect, nation or time. It is rather a scripture for the entire world and for all times. It is for all, for every nation, every race, and for every man and woman, whatever be their spiritual level and capacity. Irrespective of this, however, just hearsay or someone’s influence should not be the basis for a decision that has a direct bearing upon one’s existence. Krishn says in the last chapter of the Geeta that even just hearing its mysterious knowledge is indeed salutary. But after a seeker has thus learnt it from an accomplished teacher, he also needs to practise it and incorporate it into his own conduct and experience. This necessitates that we approach the Geeta after freeing ourselves from all prejudices and preconceived notions. And then we will indeed find it a pillar of light.

To regard the Geeta as just a sacred book is not enough. A book is at best a sign-post that guides readers to knowledge. It is said that one who has known the truth of the Geeta is a knower of the Ved — which literally means knowledge of God. In the Upanishad Brihadaranyak, Yagnvalkya calls the Ved “the breath of the Eternal.”

But all the knowledge and all the wisdom that the Geeta embodies, we must always remember, comes to consciousness only within the worshipper’s heart.

The great sage Vishwamitr, we are told, was absorbed in meditative penance. Pleased with this, Brahma appeared and said to him, “From this day you are a sage (rishi).” But not satisfied with this, the hermit went on with his intent contemplation. After a while Brahma, now accompanied by other gods, returned and said, “From today you are a royal sage (rajarshi).” But since Vishwamitr’s wish was yet unfulfilled, he continued with his incessant penance. Attended upon by gods, virtuous impulses that constitute the treasure of divinity, Brahma came back again and told Vishwamitr that from that day he was a supreme sage (maharshi). Vishwamitr then said to the oldest of all gods, “No, I wish to be called a brahmarshi (Brahmin sage) who has conquered his senses.” Brahma protested that it could not be because he had not yet subdued his senses. So Vishwamitr resumed his penance, so rigorously this time that the smoke of the fire of penance began to rise from his head. Gods then entreated Brahma and the Lord of creation once more appeared before Vishwamitr and said, “Now you are a brahmarshi.” Thereupon Vishwamitr rejoined, “If I am a brahmarshi, let the Ved wed me.”

His prayer was granted and the Ved was awakened in his heart. The unknown essence — all the mysterious knowledge and wisdom of the Ved — now became known. This direct apprehension of truth rather than a book is Ved. So wherever Vishwamitr — an enlightened sage — is, the Ved abide there. Krishn has also revealed in the Geeta that the world is like an indestructible Peepal tree whose root above is God and whose branches spreading below are nature. The one who cuts this tree down with the axe of renunciation and knows God is a knower of the Ved. So the perception of God that comes after the cessation of nature’s dominance is named “Ved.” Since this vision is a gift from God himself, it is said to transcend even the Self. A sage is also one who has gone beyond the Self by merging into the Supreme Spirit, and it is God who then speaks through him. He turns into the medium by which the signs coming from God are transmitted. So a mere understanding of the literal meaning of words and grammatical structures is not sufficient to comprehend the truth underlying a sage’s utterances. Only the seeker who has achieved the state of a non-person by actually treading the action-oriented path of spiritual fulfillment, and whose ego is dissolved in God, can comprehend this hidden meaning.

Although essentially impersonal, the Ved are compilations of the utterances of a hundred or a hundred and fifty sage-seers. But when the same utterances are put down in writing by others, a code of social order and organization is also included along with them. Since this code is believed to have come down from men of true accomplishment and wisdom, people tend to adhere to its provisions even though they may have nothing to do with dharm-fulfillment of one’s innate spiritual obligation. In our own time we see how even hangers-on of no consequence get their work done by pretending to be intimate with wielders of power, whereas as a matter of fact they may not be really even known to them.

Likewise, codifiers of rules for social life and conduct also hide behind great sages and exploit their venerable names to win subsistence. The same has happened with the Ved. Fortunately, however, what may be deemed the essence of the Ved — the divine revelations of saints and seers who lived thousands of years ago — is enshrined in the Upanishad. Neither dogma nor theology, these meditations concern direct, overwhelming religious experience in the midst of life, and record insights into eternal truths. They are unified by their common search for the true nature of reality, and in the course of this search provide glimpses into sublime states of the soul. And the Geeta is an abstract of this essence that the Upanishad contain. Or, as it might be said, the Geeta is the quintessence of the immortal substance that the Upanishad have churned from the celestial poetry of the Ved.

Every sage who has attained reality is also likewise an embodiment of this quintessence. And in every part of the world a compilation of his utterances is known as scripture. Nevertheless, dogmatists and blind followers of creeds insist that this or that holy book alone is a repository of truth. So we have people who say that only the Koran is a revelation of truth and that its visionary experience cannot be had again. There are others who hold forth that no man can go to heaven without placing his faith in Jesus Christ, the one Son of God. We often hear people say, “There cannot be such a sage or seer or prophet again.” But all this is nothing but blind, irrational orthodoxy. The essence perceived by all true sages is the same.

Its universality makes the Geeta unique among the eminent sacred works of the entire world. That also makes it a yardstick by which the veracity of other holy books can be tested and judged. So the Geeta is that touchstone that vindicates the substance of truth in other scriptures and also resolves disputes arising from their sometimes incompatible or even contradictory assertions. As it has been pointed out, almost all holy books abound in provisions for worldly life and sustenance, and also in directives for religious rites and ceremonies. There are also introduced into them — in order to make them more attractive — sensational and even dreadful accounts of what ought or ought not to be done. It is so unfortunate that people blindly accept all these superficial matters as the “essence” of dharm, forgetting that regulations and modes of worship that have been laid down for the conduct and sustenance of physical life are bound to undergo change with place, time, and situation. This really is behind all our communal and religious disharmony.

The uniqueness of the Geeta is that it rises above temporal questions and reveals the dynamic way by which man may achieve perfection of the Self and final absolution. There is not a single verse in the whole composition that is concerned with sustenance of physical life. On the contrary, each verse of the Geeta demands of its disciples that they equip themselves and get ready for the inner war — the discipline of worship and meditation. Instead of embroiling us, like other sacred books, in the irreconcilable contradictions of heaven and hell, it is concerned exclusively with demonstrating the way by which the Soul may attain the immortal state after which there are no shackles of birth and death. Every sage-teacher — like me — has own style and certain favourite expressions.

Besides choosing a poetic medium, Yogeshwar Krishn has also repeatedly employed and stressed terms such as action (karm), yagya, varn, varnsankar, war, sphere (kshetr), and knowledge or discrimination (gyan) in the Geeta. These words are invested with unique meanings in the context and are certainly not divested of charm by frequent repetition. The peculiar meanings of these expressions have been strictly adhered to and there are explanations wherever required. These words and their unique meanings which have been almost completely lost today constitute the main attraction of the Geeta. Since readers will meet them again and again in Sampoorna Geetardh, brief definitions of these terms are given below:

Key Terms — Quick Reference