The Untold Story of the Bhagavad Gita
By K. P. S. Kamath
Author to Reader
Recently a friend of mine told me that my book ‘The Untold Story of the Bhagavad Gita’ was
too big to study (460 pages) at a stretch. He said, “Why not give a summary of
the book by means of a series of articles?” In the following articles I will
give the reader information on the Bhagavad Gita not available in any other
source. It took me over 20 years of study of Rig Veda, the Vedanta, the
Bhagavad Gita, history of India, Buddhist scriptures of the time, Edicts of
Ashoka the Great, and numerous other books and sources of antiquity to write
this book.
About me: After
practicing psychiatry for forty years in the U.S.A., I retired in 2010. In
analyzing thousands of patients with psychiatric problems, I had to use the science of deduction to untangle the
complex problems my patients experienced in their befuddled mind. It was my job
to unearth hidden meaning of what they said, and to detect inconsistencies
between what they said and what he/she did, and arrive at the truth of the matter.
Ultimately, accepting that truth liberated my conflicted patients from their
neurosis. Those of you familiar with Sherlock Holmes’ method of deduction know
what science of deduction is all about. In other words, I had to be a mind detective in my dealings with my
clients.
Hindu sacred texts
are a jumble: Most Hindu sacred texts are incoherent and
self-contradicting. Unless one knew the historical context of every word,
phrase, sentence and paragraph, it is impossible to know its true intent and spirit.
In the absence of this knowledge, one is likely to resort to fanciful
imagination in interpreting it. In the course of my articles I will submit
examples of such misinterpretation by great Acharyas with disastrous
consequences for India.
Science of deduction:
In my research I applied the science of deduction in connecting the seemingly
disparate dots I found in the same paragraph or chapter. If one shloka (verse)
said one thing and the very next shloka said exactly the opposite, it does not
take a genius to deduce that one scribe composed the first one and his opponent
composed the next one. If a text comes across incoherent and
self-contradictory, common sense told me that someone deliberately added
contradicting verses, or scrambled the text to hide something. To get at the
truth of the text, I had to do a great deal of detective work.
Hinduism is in
danger: Today Hinduism is in great danger of being hijacked by ignorant
Hindu extremists. When responsible Hindus utter nonsense such as elephant
headed Ganesha was a product of transplant surgery, we have to sit up and pay
attention to its degradation. Today it is fashionable for ignorant ministers,
judges, bureaucrats and Hindu extremists to declare the Bhagavad Gita as
national text. If you ask these people a simple question, “What is the central
message of this text?” they have no sensible answer. Much of what you read in
commentaries on this text is utter nonsense. Just as Taliban and other
extremist groups have hijacked Islam, several ignorant fanatical Hindu groups
are busy hijacking Hinduism. Those of us who still have our senses together
must do everything within our means to enlighten people what true Hinduism is
all about.
Defensive stance of
Hindus: Most Hindus I know think Hinduism is the most perfect Dharma
without any blemish. When someone points out to them its darker side, their
typical response is, “Islam and Christianity are not any better!” This kind of
response is a sign of immaturity, insecurity and ignorance. Brahmanic scribes
of ancient India said the same thing when they felt threatened by Buddhism
(Read the Bhagavad Gita: 3:35; 18:47-48).
Great institutions are not afraid to know the defects in their system. In
fact, they are eager to know them. Unless one acknowledges the deficiencies in
the system and takes corrective measures, the system would end up more and more
archaic, irrelevant and useless.
Our ancestors were intelligent
but not perfect: We Hindus must acknowledge that our ancestors, though very
intelligent, were not perfect. They created Sanatana Dharma to address certain
sociopolitical issues prevalent in ancient India. They did whatever they did,
right or wrong, within the limitation of their intellect, nature and
circumstances. We need not be defensive about their actions or results thereof.
We need to accept the reality that not everything they created has relevance to
modern times, accept the ones that are relevant, reject the ones that are
anachronistic, and move on for better future. For example, our ancestors
practiced Untouchability till recently. We need to acknowledge this defect in
Hinduism, which affected millions of innocent people, and take corrective
measures instead of being defensive about it.
Response to my
articles: In my articles I will provide adequate proof from the scriptures
to back up my findings. Readers could communicate with me about my articles by
means of email, and I will try to respond to them as soon as possible. However,
anyone wishing to contradict them must provide proof from the scriptures, not
just express an opinion based on whatever they heard from someone or read
somewhere. Arguments must be sensible and based on solid research. Otherwise I
will not address them. I reject kneejerk reactions, personal attacks and
ignorant comments.
The Untold Story of the Bhagavad Gita is available on
amazon.in, pothi.com, and Flipkart.com/
In the next article, we will study Brahmanism also known as
BrahmavÄda (BG: 17:24), the most ancient Dharma of India.
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