Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 summary

Chapter 1 Arjuna Vishada Yoga:

In this chapter, Minister Sanjaya explains to the king Dhritarashtra that the armies of both Pandavas and Kauravas are assembled in Kurukshetra for the war. Everyone is blowing their conch to signal the start of the war. Famed warriors like Drona, Bhishma are fighting the battle on the side of Kauravas. Krishna is the charioteer for Arjuna. Arjuna, though one of the greatest warriors of his time, suffers a mental breakdown.

This is the biggest take away of Chapter 1.

Even the best of the best will undergo mental confusions, breakdowns at critical junctures in their life.
Arjuna asks Krishna to drive him to the center of the battlefield and argues with Krishna that he does not want to fight this war. The arguments he puts up here 'apparently' looks very convincing.

• Argument 1) I can only see misfortunes as a result of this war
• Argument 2) I cannot see how any good can result from killing my own cousins and relations.
• Argument 3) I do not desire any subsequent victory, kingdom or happiness by killing my own relatives.
• Argument 4) Teachers, Fathers, Sons, Grand Fathers, Maternal uncles, In laws, Grandsons and others are placed in opposite sides of the war. I need to kill them or get killed. What pleasure will we (Pandavas) derive by killing Kauravas?
• Argument 5) Killing is sinful and wrong. Kauravas may not realize this, but we are educated enough to realize this.
• Argument 6) If dynasty is destroyed, the family tradition is lost for the next generations.
• Argument 7) The next generations will be unwanted progeny due to wrong deeds of the war on the women in the society.
• Argument 8) Ancestors of these unwanted future generations will also suffer as no one will do the requisite ancestral yagnas or worships (Pindodaka kriya). Hence unwanted people and their ancestors (including Pandavas) will go to hell.
• Argument 9) Driven by desire of royal happiness, we are committing sin.
• Argument 10) I think it's better Kauravas kill me unarmed in this battlefield.

Saying thus, he discards his bow and arrow, overcome with mental confusions. Clearly, a great warrior Arjuna is experiencing a mental breakdown at a crucial juncture as the war is about to start. He 'does not want' to fight the war and wants to run away. Arjuna uses several arguments even in subsequent chapters which again looks very convincing but that’s the beauty of Bhagavad Gita. Krishna 'corrects' him each time on what is the right thing to do. This is done in several ways – by educating Arjuna on the bigger picture of life, the ultimate goal of life, how a right thing needs to be pursued even if it's not easy or not convenient.

This knowledge is not meant to be used only for one use case i.e. Arjuna fighting the war. Rather, the eternal knowledge of life is brought out through this use case. If the greatest of the great can experience this breakdown, all human beings at some point in their life or at regular intervals will experience a mental breakdown. The person will be unable to distinguish between rights and wrongs and how he should be performing his duties in the right way. Further, notice that during these confusing times, mind just seems to run away with arguments that seems valid. But, on close introspection later with an open mind, the realization dawns that they are all pseudo arguments to convince ourselves to run away from our duties. These psuedo arguments of our mind will not stand the test of truth and time.

Sample shloka

धृतराष्ट्र उवाच |
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः |
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ||1||

dhṛitarāśhtra uvācha
dharma-kṣhetre kuru-kṣhetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāśhchaiva kimakurvata sañjaya

Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?

Link to Chapter 2.
Link to home page.

Summary or Essence of Bhagavad Gita

Summary in one paragraph:

Do your duty (work) without getting attached to the outcome. Outcome (Success or failure) does not matter as long as we have put in our best efforts. We need to do our duty with complete devotion to God and accept any result of the work done (success or failure) as God's will after putting our full efforts.
One common misinterpretation after reading the above can be that since a person should not get attached to the outcome or the results (success or failure), we need not set goals. This interpretation is incorrect and the right way to see it is that Goals have to be set and they need to help in our evolution . We have to do our duties to help reach the goal. Both our efforts and God's grace is necessary in any work we do. Once we have put our best efforts, we should accept any outcome whether it is success or failure.

The above principle is discussed in Bhagavad Gita as Bhagavan Sri Krishna takes us through the eternal knowledge of the soul or the life that extends beyond Janma (this particular birth and death cycle), the ultimate purpose of any Jeevatma (soul) and the attributes of the Paramatma (Supreme soul). Bhagavan Sri Krishna also talks about how the soul gets entangled in infinite birth and death cycles due to its association with Prakriti (material nature). He says that liberation from this cycle of infinite birth and death is the right goal of life. This can be done by several methods including Saankya Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga or Sannyasa Yoga. These Yogas or paths are not independent and the tenets can be combined to achieve liberation.

Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters and 700 shlokas/verses. There are many popular books and audios that gives both translation and interpretation (purport).

• Bhagavad Gita as it is translated by Srila Prabhupada - Dvaita school of philosophy
• Bhagavad Gita translated by Gita Press Gorakhpur
• Bhagavad Gita translated by S. Radhakrishnan
• Bhagavad Gita translated by Swami Swaroopananda, Swami Tapasyananda, Swami Ranganathananda – Advaita school of philosophy

In addition, there are discourses from Chinmaya mission and several other organizations. Sages from time immemorial have given their translations and interpretations in various languages. For Tamil discourses, search for names like Krishna Premi Anna, Nochur Venkatraman. For discourses in English, search for discourse by Prof. Mahadevan or Velukudi Krishnan. This link has quite a few discourses. Commentaries from enlightened persons (Bhasyam like Adi Shankara Bhasyam) are also available.

In this blog, I am trying to invoke reader's interest in spirituality by summarizing all the chapters of Bhagavad Gita in English.

Every human being has the choice of free will and may agree or disagree with what Bhagavad Gita says. With age and maturity , the person will be able to experience the truths told in Bhagavad Gita and eventually understand, agree and practically experience the statements of the Paramatma/Supreme Creator. Here aging refers to spiritual aging that may be trillions of rebirth!! That's why Lord Krishna concludes his discourse to Arjuna saying "I have told what needs to be told and it is now your wish to take it or leave it". So, it respects the human free will and does not force anything on the Jeevatma or the reader. Bhagavan also says that even if a human takes the wrong path or a sub optimal path, he will learn and ultimately attain liberation. Hence, my request to the reader is to read and understand with an open mind. If you are new to spirituality, several contents will look either surprising or illogical but as life progresses, it will make sense.

18 chapters can be broadly categorized into 3 categories:

• Karma Yoga and Dhyana Yoga - Chapter 1 to 6 talks about how a human being should act on his duties in the materialistic world. Putting it in more simple terms – How to act in day to day life that helps the mind to become mature. How can a human free his mind from unnecessary distractions and meditate (Dhyana) his mind on spirituality.
• Bhakti Yoga – Once a human being has got maturity that spirituality is necessary, his mind will have more time due to the practice of Karma Yoga and Dhyana Yoga. But nature of mind is such that it needs to focus on 'something', otherwise it's easy to get distracted in non-spiritual pursuits. In Chapter 7 to 12, Bhagavad Gita focusses the importance of doing everything with Bhakti and surrendering the outcomes (success/failure) to God rather than getting attached to the outcomes.
• Chapter 13 to 18 discusses the same process explained above in more detail. Here, it explains how the human being is constituted by the 3 modes of nature (Sattva - Goodness, Rajas - Passion, & Tamas - Ignorance) in different proportions. This is what gives unique identity to the individual. The activities that a human performs like Yagna, Tapas and Daana also can be categorized into the 3 modes of nature (i.e. same Sattva, Rajas and Tamas). Human being has to evolve gradually by limiting his activities of Tamas and Rajas. He has to predominantly do activities in the Sattvic mode (Goodness mode). Ultimately, he will transcend the 3 modes of nature and realize the ultimate goal of liberation. Bhagavan re-assures in chapter 18 that anyone in any Varna (i.e. Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra) can aim for the ultimate goal and can attain it.

Background:

Before jumping into Chapter 1, if the reader does not know the historical context, here's the quick background.

Pandavas are the five sons of Queen Kunti and King Pandu – namely Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva .

Kauravas are Pandavas' cousins . King Pandu's elder brother is Dhritarashtra. He is blind by birth and hence asks his younger brother Pandu to rule. But after Pandu's death, he is ruling the kingdom along with his 100 sons. Duryodhana is the eldest. Duryodhana and 99 siblings are Kauravas.
Pandavas lose a gambling match to Kauravas and they are banished from the kingdom for 14 years. They fulfill their duties in exile and return back after 14 years and ask for a share in the kingdom. Kauravas due to greed are not ready to share the kingdom with Pandavas which is their rightful duty. They snub the Pandavas that they will not even give 5 villages and hence to forget their share of the kingdom.

This necessitates the war where Pandavas and Kauravas are assembled with their armies to fight the battle of Kurukshetra .

Krishna at this point is a well-wisher and a consultant to both Pandavas and Kauravas. He offers himself as consultant to one party and his armies/weapons etc to the other party in the war. Pandavas choose him and Kauravas choose his armies/weapons. Krishna further does not play any role as a warrior, but helps in the role of a Charioteer to Arjuna (3rd Pandava sibling).

With this background, lets jump into Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1.

Practical Spirituality - Part 3 - Men who lead Dharmic life

 

For overview, begin here.

Practical Spirituality - Part 3 - Examples of people who followed Dharmic path: 

 

The following personalities were in the path of Dharma. They might have made some mistakes, but certainly they understand the Dharma principle and tried living according to it. Not all were fully liberated or enlightened, but there were on the right path.  A very important point is not to give significance to the personality themselves as the person/human is temporary i.e his mind/body are not permanent and eternal. Also, remember that the person's mind itself may change over a period of time. So, dont conclude that the person has to be 100% dharmic in every way. There is no human being on earth who has done only right things all throughout life. See if the person applied dharmic principles in a difficult situation or not. Give importance in what is being said - Is it right or wrong - This right or wrong (also called Dharma) is eternal and universal and hence that is what we should pay attention and adopt in our life. The incentive is that if we follow Dharmic practices, we are blessed with mental clarify and health. If we do not follow Dharmic practices, our own mind gets clouded with negative thoughts of guilt, anger, helplessness, etc  

 

SN Goenka 

 

SN Goenka (who re-discovered Gautham Buddha's Dhamma path) was a very Dharmic person. In his initial days, being in a business community, he made a number of mistakes but when he realized it, he changed for the better propagating the path of Dhamma to the world. He is credited for re discovering the lost path of Vipassana meditation which was maintained in its pristine format by dedicated Guru/Shishya parampara in Burma (Myanmar).  

Once he understood the path of Dhamma, SN Goenka went out of the way to teach Vipassana in India. India in his days had a lot of contemporaries like Osho, Sai Baba, ISKCON etc. All were teaching different strategies for enlightenment. It is SN Goenka's trust in the Dhamma/Dharmic path that helped him overcome lot of challenges in establishing the infrastructure across the world and reestablish the practice of Vipassana meditation as practiced and taught by Gautham Buddha 2500 years ago.  

 

 

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 

 

Srila Prabhupada swami was a very Dharmic person. He was initiated into the Gaudiya Vaishnava parampara by his Guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. After Srila Prabhupada completed his duties as a Grihastha, he was initiated into Sannyasa and he became an independent monk away from his family. He published books on Bhagavad Gita, its essence and propagated the message. Based on the suggestion by his Guru earlier in life, he travelled alone to the USA to propagate the message of Bhagavad Gita and the scriptures. He had no money, no permanent place in USA. Yet, he was able to initiate Krishna Consciousness among hundreds of Americans who were attracted by his devotion and sincerity. He established the ISKCON organization that today is there in every country. He was able to face enormous challenges of physical health, independent living in old age and was able to achieve these due to his mental clarity by following Dharma.
There are some comments attributed to Srila Prabhupada regarding Black people being inferior to White people OR women being inferior to men in certain aspects. As I said earlier, dont judge the person. See all the good and Dharmic things he did for his entire life!

Mahatma Gandhi 

 

When it comes to politicians, I have seen the debate never ends. Mahatma Gandhi is both hailed as a hero and there are equal criticisms of his strategies. Mahatma Gandhi was a very Dharmic person atleast in some of the challenging times.

He did make mistakes in life and he was ready to accept it as mentioned in his auto biography – My experiments with Truth. There were a number of mistakes that he did not acknowledge - For example - he openly expressed loyalty to the British Queen and the Britishers many a times. Its well know that in 1910s, he actively engaged in recruiting Indians to fight for British in World war 1. Around 1.1 million Indians fought in the British side and ~1 lakh Indian soldiers lost their lives. Violence in any form is wrong and hence, it has to be condemned and in this case, Indians had nothing at all to do in World war 1. This was sheer political opportunism which is certainly not Dharmic. There were times where he was not consistent in this Dharmic stand as he was soft when British initiated the violence (or in rare cases, Muslim leaders initiated violence) but was harsh against Hindu leaders when they initiated violence. I reiterate here that violence initiated by anyone is wrong. It can be justified only in the rarest of rare cases when every other negotiation has failed and the person should state his dharmic stand and then fight. (Such an example of Bhagwan Krishna asking Arjuna to fight is mentioned below).

But, let us see some examples where Mahatma Gandhi indeed upheld Dharmic principles.  

Mahatma Gandhi had immense compassion for fellow human beings which is a hallmark of a Dharmic person. He opposed the partition of India and called out the evil intentions of the British ruling both the countries by proxy and what was happening was just 'transfer of power' and not freedom/independence. If he had not spoken out the facts, he could have easily become the Prime minister/President of the country. But, he did not negotiate with the British on the uncompromisable aspects of Freedom. On 14th and 15th Aug 1947, he was fasting against the partition even though majority of the politicians and public did not care. He again fasted against the Hindu/Muslim riots that were triggered by the British in secret collusion with the Indian and Pakistani Governments. That shows his infinite compassion. He ultimately paid the price for this with his own life and none of his children or grandchildren could ever become politicians. You can see what a great man Gandhi was by sacrificing his own life, future of his children but doing the right thing for the country, countrymen and Freedom. That is Dharma. 

Another example, when his contemporaries out of ignorance or self-interest promoted vaccines, he outrightly said vaccines are not 'Dharmic' . It contains ingredients that are not aligned with nature. In his days, the vaccine for small pox was made out of weakened small pox bacteria and the serum of the cow which he considered as unethical to inject into a healthy person. He stood against vaccines and did not bother about what the society considered as 'normal' or 'acceptable'.  Link to the book Guide to Health 1921  

 

 

Rights/Wrongs and FAQS: 

 

Eating vegetarian Vs non vegetarian debate: 

 

Eating non vegetarian is against Dharma as this means you kill animals who can experience pain. Only under exceptional situation, when say a fisherman is not able to grow any plant/tree and eat fruits/vegetables and only for his necessity of food, he catches fish and eats, it can be considered as a neutral thing which does not violate Dharma. Eating non veg when other sources are available or for the taste is adharmic/wrong.  

Non Vegetarians use the argument that plant is also a life. So, a farmer is 'killing' the plant and vegetarians are also eating this. This is a fair argument. If one has to be Dharmic, he should eat only fruits and vegetables which are grown off the plant/trees and not kill the plant or the tree at its root. As an exception, if he is 'killing' the plant itself, he should sow another plant so that life grows again.  

The point is you should consume food to make yourself mentally pure. Hence, in some sects of Jainism, Hinduism (including ISKCON) - consumption of Onions, Garlic and vegetables grown under the ground is forbidden.  

Similarly, consumption of milk can be done if you are living in synergy with the cows. You are helping the cattle graze the food, giving shelter and looking after it in the right way. You are using the excess milk from cows for your consumption. This is fine.  

But, modern day rearing of cattle itself is not right. They never have sufficient spaces for cattle to graze in the sun, they inject hormones, regulate births and slaughter cows which are completely adharmic. We should not be consuming milk if the right procedure is not followed.  

 

Killing small insects Versus killing another human etc. 

Both are against Dharma. Killing another human requires a lot of negative energy in your mind and hence is more sinful. Killing any being intentionally – even a bacteria/virus say through a sanitizer, killing a mosquito/ant is wrong. Dharma cannot be selectively applied for your benefit. If you have done so, accept it and try not to do it in the future. Maybe, use a mosquito net or prevent the ants by applying some powder near the ant hole so that it does not disturb you. Avoid, don’t kill. In case of bacteria, virus etc., realize that our human cells and the trillions of bacteria/virus form an eco-system and there is no need to avoid/harm them.  

 

Choosing Work and job: 

Work and earn money from ethical jobs – Say Agriculture, Services that help others like plumber, security, electrician, Teacher, Preacher, Healer, Doctor. Make sure that in each of the profession, you are doing it in ethical way and not following corrupt practices. Otherwise, you are breaking Dharma. For example, as a doctor, you are prescribing tests or medications merely for profit and self-interest is breaking Dharmic rules.   

Neutral industries – Software, Agents/Brokers, etc. – Here, you need to careful that the end product is helpful to people and not harmful.  

Industries you need to be careful – Weapons industry, Army/Navy/air force, Industries that promise you quick money like stock market, etc.  

Say you are in the Army and you 'need' to kill people and that’s your duty. That’s not wrong, PROVIDED you are mentally clear that you have tried all other options like negotiations, opening a peace channel and helping the other person regarding spirituality, mental peace and health. When all other options have failed, you can use weapons to neutralize enemy with a clear mental conscience that you are doing this for the greater good and this action is a temporary action and the goodness of this action is temporary.  

This is the advice of the Hindu scripture – Bhagavad Gita. People wrongly interpret this as we can kill 'if' we are Kshatriyas or 'if' we are in battle field fighting a war. Realize that Bhagavan Krishna preaches that Arjuna should fight this Dharma Yuddha (war) after Pandavas have tried every other option – They went on exile, hiding, tolerated the evil plans of Kauravas when their home was set on fire or when Draupadi was insulted. After fulfilling every commitment as they lost a gambling game of dice, they rightfully asked for their share of kingdom to rule. This was for the sake of the people and not for themselves. They were denied even five villages by Kauravas. This made the Kurukshetra war inevitable. It is known as the war to establish Dharma as there was a clear distinction in the intentions of Pandavas (Righteousness) and Kauravas (Evil). Hence, it is called Dharma Yuddha.  

But, most wars today fought in Kashmir, Palestine are not Dharma Yuddha as there is no clear distinction between who is right and who is wrong. Say, for Kashmir, the parties - Government of India, Pakistan and the so called Independents in Kashmir are all funded by the same International bankers due to their vested evil interests and hence there is no party who is fully right. We can convert it to a Dharma Yuddha by being transparent about our intentions to support the ordinary Kashmiri citizens realize freedom.