Understanding Bhagavad-gita

Video Series by David Bruce Hughes

Part 1: On the Battlefield

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Hello, I’m David Hughes. Welcome to the Bhagavad-gita. In this episode we are going to study the first chapter of the Bhagavad-gita: “On the battlefield of Kuruksetra”. Here is the URL for you to read it online. http://esotericteaching.org/gita. Bhagavad-gita is 18 chapters of a much larger work called Mahabharata. Mahabharata is often called the "Fifth Veda," because it contains all religious principles and philosophy. It is a great epic spanning centuries of time in the pre-Vedic and Vedic periods, more than 5000 years ago. Bhagavad-gita chronicles the history of a family rivalry between two sides of the Vedic emperors; the Kurus and the Pandavas. The Pandavas were supposed to inherit the kingdom, which at that time encompassed the entire earth. But their cousin brothers the Kauravas were envious of them, and tried to take the kingdom away from them. Actually for a time they succeeded. But, then through the agency of Lord Krsna a huge battle was arranged that would settle the conflict once and for all. This was the Battle of Kuruksetra. 

As the Bhagavad-gita opens, Krsna and Arjuna are seated on the chariot, ready to begin the fight. Arjuna asks Krsna “Please take me out between the two armies so that I can see who is here for this great battle.” So Krsna drives chariot out in the middle of the two armies. 

When Arjuna sees all his relatives and friends ready to kill each other over the kingdom, he becomes very disturbed and he begins to argue with Krsna why they should not fight the battle. Arjuna argues that even though his relatives are avaricious, because they are related, they should not fight with one another. This is against the rules of dharma or morality; and that it is better to loose the kingdom and not fight to demonstrate the principle of compassion to one’s relatives and friends. 

His reasoning goes likes this: "If we kill the family members then the religious rituals that are supposed to take place in the family will not happen. Especially the elder members who have the most spiritual wisdom should not be killed." He says "Even if we fight this battle and win, then we will not be able to enjoy it because all our relatives and friends would have died in the battle and there will be no one to share it with." Further he says "Killing all the family members, and kings especially, will stop the performance of religious rituals and sacrifices that should go on in the family. As a result, the morality of the family, the dynasty will become degraded; and because of this, low-class living entities will begin to appear in the family and the peace of the entire society will be ruined." 

Now you might say, "What does this have to do with us?" After all, we are not warriors or kings. We don’t have to go out on the battlefield and prove ourselves everyday. We are not fighting for the kingdom or to become the emperor of the whole world. What does Bhagavad-gita have to do with me? Is it relevant? 

This is a good question, and actually it is very relevant. All of us are fighting a battle against Maya or illusion. We are trying to escape from the ignorance and find the Truth. When we find that truth then we can understand what we are doing here, what our duty is and how we should act in such a way to get the most out of the life. Until we get that knowledge, we are basically helpless; we are at the mercy of everyone who wants to exploit us. A person without knowledge is like a boat without a rudder, struggling on the sea of life. 

Life is full of problems and conflicts of different kinds. How we handle those problems and conflicts determines whether we enjoy or suffer, whether we advance or [are] defeated in our struggle in life. The problem is, without knowledge everything we try just seems to make things worse. Actually this is the case. If we try to act without proper knowledge then whatever we do not only will not get the desired results. but it will put us in more trouble than we already are. Actually, everything in this world has a cause, and the cause of our problems is ignorance: ignorance of the nature of the self and the ignorance of God. 

Bhagavad-gita counteracts this ignorance by giving the actual knowledge of the God, spoken by God himself. Now, God is very difficult for us to understand because of our limited intelligence. But, when He Himself explains Himself, then we can understand very easily because the explanation is so clear and perfect. This is Bhagavad-gita – God speaking about Himself and our relationship with Him. The Bhagavad-gita teaches us that taking shelter of God, worshipping and serving Him with all our energy and resources, is the actual solution to the problems of life. 

Those of us who have accepted this solution experience that this is true. Not only does God give perfect knowledge, and contemplation of God leads to perfect understanding, but He also protects the surrendered soul. One who serves Him is guaranteed never to come under difficulty at any time. Even at the end of life, at the time of death, someone who is in God consciousness or transcendental consciousness does not feel any inconvenience, but is able to transcend the material situation through spiritual consciousness. 

This is the message of Bhagavad-gita, and this is the benefit that we can experience by studying Bhagavad-gita. Therefore, actually everyone should read and study Bhagavad-gita because it is the perfect theistic science of higher consciousness. Therefore we encourage everyone to view all the videos in this series. Read Bhagavad-gita online at http://esotericteaching.org/gita, follow this teaching and make your life successful.