1 Introduction
Blurb
Bhagavad-Gita is the most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing in any known tongue' – William von Humboldt.
Though it is a matter of consensus that Bhagvad-Gita in the present length of seven hundred slokas has many an interpolation to it such as chaturvarnyam mayashrustam, but no meaningful attempt has ever been made to delve into the nature and extent, not to speak of the effect of these on the Hindu society at large.
The methodical codification of interpolations carried out here puts the true character of the Gita in proper perspective. Identified and omitted in this version are hundred and ten slokas of deviant nature and or of partisan character, the source of so much misunderstanding about this book extraordinary, in certain sections of the Hindu fold.
In the long run, exposing and expunging these mischievous insertions is bound to bring in new readers from these quarters to this over two millennia old classic besides altering the misconceptions of the existing adherents.
The moot point that has missed the attention of all, all along, is that if the Sudras were to be so lowly in the Lord's creation, how come then the Gita's architect Krishna, His avatar, and Vyāsa, its chronicler, happen to be from the same lowly Hindu caste fold. Moreover, is it not absurd to suggest that either or both of them had deprecated the station of their own varna (caste) on their own in their very own Gita?
In this rendition the beauty of the Gita's Sanskrit slokas is reflected in the rhythmic flow of the English verse of poetic proportions even as the attendant philosophy is captured in contemporary idiom for easy comprehension.
--------------------------------------
Bhagvad-Gita: Treatise of Self-help
Sans 110 interpolations in contemporary verse
BS Murthy
ISBN 81-901911-0-1
Copyright © 2006 BS Murthy
Originally published by Self Imprint in 2003 and 2005
This improved E-book edition is of 2013
Cover design by E. Rohini Kumar and the Krishna-Arjuna illustration by Gopi
Self Imprint
F-9, Nandini Mansion,
1-10-234, Ashok Nagar,
Hyderabad – 500 020
------------------------
Other books by BS Murthy
Benign Flame: Saga of Love
Jewel-less Crown: Saga of Life
Crossing the Mirage – Passing through youth
Glaring Shadow - A stream of consciousness novel
Prey on the Prowl – A Crime Novel
Of No Avail – Web of Wedlock (A Novella)
Stories Varied – A Book of Short Stories
Onto the Stage - Slighted Souls and other stage and plays
Puppets of Faith: Theory of Communal Strife ( A Critical Appraisal of Islamic Faith, Indian Polity 'n More)
Inane Interpolations in Bhagvad-Gita (An Invocation for their Revocation)
Sundara Kãnda - Hanuman's Odyssey (A translation in verse)
---------------------------
Dedicated to grandparents,
Paternal: Bulusu Thimmaiah -Lakshmi Narasamma,
Maternal: Challa Kameswara Rao - Suramma
And parents: Peraiah Sastry and Kamakshi,
In whose care my destiny so favourably placed me.
-----------------------
Contents
Content 1: Introduction
Content 2 : Awe Unfounded
Content 3 : All about Interpolations
Chapter 1: Arjuna's Dilemma
Chapter 2: All about Life
Chapter 3: Theory of Action
Chapter 4: Practical Wisdom
Chapter 5: Art of Renunciation
Chapter 6: Practice of Restraint
Chapter 7: Know the Spirit
Chapter 8: Cycle of Creation
Chapter 9: The Sacred Secret
Chapter 10: Discern the Divine
Chapter 11: Nature of Omnipresence
Chapter 12: Doctrine of Faith
Chapter 13: Field and Farmer
Chapter 14: Proclivities to Know
Chapter 15: Art of Liberation
Chapter 16: Frailty of Thought
Chapter 17: Science of Devotion
Chapter 18: Thy Looking-glass
-----------------------------
Introduction
The spiritual ethos and the philosophical outlook that the Bhagavad-Gita postulates paves the way for the liberation of man, who, as Rousseau said, 'being born free, is everywhere in chains'. But equally it is a mirror of human psychology, which enables man to discern his debilities for appropriate redressal.
All the same, the boon of an oral tradition that kept it alive for over two millennia became its bane with the proliferation of interpolations therein. Besides muddying its pristine philosophy, these insertions affect the sequential conformity and structural economy of the grand discourse. What is worse, to the chagrin of the majority of the Hindus, some of these legitimize the inimical caste system while upholding the priestly perks and prejudices.
This rendition seeks to restore to the Gita, its original character by ridding it of hundred and ten interpolations, which tend to keep the skeptics away from it. And ironically these muddle the understanding of the adherents as well. In the theatre of man as nothing surpasses the drama of war, the stage for unveiling the Gita's unrivalled philosophy was set on the battleground of Kurukshetra at the threshold of the battle of Mahabharata.
