The Untold Story of the Bhagavad Gita

Revealing the True Intent and Spirit of the Bhagavad Gita in its Historical Context

By K.P.S. Kamath

Pkamath001@gmail.com

2 -A Very Brief Introduction to the Bhagavad Gita

Note: This article was supposed to be about Brāhmanism, but instead I decided to give the reader a brief introduction to the Bhagavad Gita.

Belief is a personal matter, and it is not wise to argue about it with believers. These articles are meant for thinkers who want to know the true intent and spirit of the Bhagavad Gita. Discovering truth might upset us at first because it might not fit into our reality; then it liberates us from ignorance, and finally it elevates us to a higher level of human spirit. Reasoning is the foundation of all wisdom and blind faith is the basis of all ignorance.    

The Ocean: For over three thousand years, numerous Hindu sages created enormous amount of scriptures like of which the world has never seen: The four Vedas, hundreds of Upanishads, Aranyakas, Brāhmanas, Sānkhya, Yoga, Manusmriti, the Bhagavad Gita, and hundreds of others. I can safely compare these scriptures to a vast, deep ocean. The problem is Hindus often feel like they are on a small boat floating aimlessly on this metaphoric ocean: Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink.

A freshwater well: The Bhagavad Gita is like a small freshwater well on the shore of this vast ocean. The well may be small, but it can quench the thirst of the pilgrim. The problem is how to draw up the water from that well. All the manuals one can find on how to draw the sweet water from that well are incomprehensible. Besides, one manual tells the pilgrim one thing and another something entirely different. Hindus in general are like thirsty people who drool over the sweet water in the well even though they are not able to draw it up from the well. Someone they trusted told them that the water in the well is sweet, and they innocently repeat it to others.

Scoundrels’ last resort: Today the Bhagavad Gita has become the last resort of ignorant and thoroughly corrupt politicians, ministers and bureaucrats, not to mention hypocritical Gurus, false Swāmis, and other self-appointed religious leaders. Knowing nothing about their history or true context, they freely quote shlokas from it. Their mindless utterances and corrupt lifestyles speak volumes about their ignorance.

Shruti and Smriti: Most true scholars consider the Bhagavad Gita-Upanishad as one of three sacred books of Hinduism: The Vedas, the Vedānta (containing the essence of the Upanishads), and the Bhagavad Gita. Long ago, the Vedas and the Vedānta were transmitted orally from generation to generation, and therefore, they were known as Shruti –that which was heard. Shruti scriptures were considered revealed or divinely inspired scriptures. Only the upper classes of Brāhmanism were authorized to hear them. In contrast, the Mahābhārata epic, designed to bring the essence of Shruti to ordinary people by means of a story, was considered a Smriti, remembered scripture. People of all classes were allowed to hear them. Being part of the Mahābhārata epic, the Bhagavad Gita is a Smriti.

The handbook of Hinduism: The Bhagavad Gita is practically the handbook of Hinduism as it contains essential features of three distinct Dharmas of ancient India: Brāhmanism, Upanishadism and Bhāgavatism. The Bhagavad Gita-Upanishad has shlokas promoting these three distinct Dharmas (sects). Each of these Dharmas had distinct pairs of doctrines. We will discuss these doctrines in detail one by one.

Jigsaw puzzle: The Bhagavad Gita is like a big box holding 701 pieces of jigsaw puzzle in it, which originally belonged in three separate jigsaw puzzle boxes with three distinct pictures on their lids. Someone put the jigsaw pieces from the three boxes into one box and scrambled them thoroughly. No matter how well one tries, it is not possible to assemble the 701 pieces to make one coherent picture. If we could identify and separate the jigsaw pieces of three separate original boxes, then we could assemble three distinct pictures out of these pieces. Only then could we connect them to each other to make the whole picture.

Chronological study needed: Since the Bhagavad Gita is a hyper-edited text we cannot make head or tail of it by studying it chapter by chapter. Instead, we need to study it chronologically, in the order of its composition: First study the (Original) Brāhmanic Gita, then the Upanishadic Gita, then resurgent Brāhmanic Gita, and finally the Bhāgavata Gita. 

Color-coding: The final editor of the Bhagavad Gita thoroughly scrambled shlokas of all three distinct Dharmas into one text in order to make a handbook of one unified Dharma, which we know today as Hinduism. Unless we unscramble the three distinct groups of shlokas and their specific goals, it is impossible to understand the Bhagavad Gita. To facilitate the unscrambling process, I will show the Brāhmanic shlokas in Saffron color, the Upanishadic shlokas in Eco color, and the Bhāgavata shlokas in Krishna color.

Recommendation: I recommend that the readers have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita at hand while reading these articles. Let us begin our discussion by studying Brāhmanism, the most ancient Dharma of India.