There are around 150 famous commentaries on gita. The number of the rest crosses the mark of 300. Do not stay attached with the numbers. They have the tendency of changing. This post is not for that. Then what is the issue?
All the famous and non - famous commentaries are more busy in rejecting each other. The people remain in confusion. They slowly become rigid towards this or that scholar. When he is a guru then fanatic mentality is prepared. Is gita meant to create an atmosphere of hatred? Promote intellectual terrorism? Is it a property of any particular cult? Is it compulsory to be a follower of Krishna to understand gita? After having such a wonderful masterpiece, most of the Indians are unable to apply its theme in their life? The interpretation style may differ but the meaning also changes.
Gita is a part and parcel of the epic- The Mahabharata. There are two places to throw light on gita. Without them a person will use manual torch known as intellectual exercise. This is being done with full faith and dedication. Every serious admirer wants to go beyond the confusion created by the commentators and cults. The marketing strategy is creating division. The style of interpretation will differ from person to person. The same person may not remain at the same level of thought. Here, the issue is --- everyone wants to prove personal ideology in the name of gita or any other ancient scripture. With this- flexibility of Panini grammar helped the scholars to satisfy their interest. Then, what to do? There are many words like -- shastra, tapa, danam, etc. used in gita. Their official definition can be seen in yaksha samvad. It is a session of 124 questions asked to Yudhisthira. All the questions are related with the balanced behavior. It is needed in day to day life. It is in vanaparva of the epic. In this 33 verses are uttered by Arjuna in the praise of Krishna. It was done when he leads a group of the followers of the pandavas and goes to the forest to meet with them. While talking he opposes gambling, hunting, drinking and women. In chapter 10 of gita he says-- gambling is his form. On this basis people have taken it as a ritual. The thing said was- just see the presence of almighty everywhere. In that chapter he has mentioned lion and death. No body runs after them. Though they are taken away by death- that is another issue. Here women means lust and not any particular form. For women it will be men. One thing is clear- there was no identity crisis in the mind of Arjuna. While going through the last portion of udyog parva, a reader will come across a place where Arjuna says - he is alone enough for the war. He can go with Krishna in the chariot and destroy the three worlds with all the jivas- creatures. He has got pashupatastra- weapon given by Shiva. Nobody knows about this. He names Bhisma and his guru. He was familiar with the opponent army. Then why he became sad? The way in which he expressed in the meeting which was held in the camp- proves his superior complex. He underestimated his own army. The war was not his personal project. To break this notion- there was a need of Gita.
Shree Krishna preached in a style known as --- MITRA SAMMAT SHAILEE. There are various ways of teaching. Yaksha samvad is in question answer form. Gita is in friendly style. In this style the speaker removes the doubt. He explains the same thing from various angles. Therefore one must study yaksha samvad properly to unfold the teachings of Gita.
There is no need to promote any concept in the name of Gita. It is not the brochure of any particular school of philosophy. One must not claim any commentary as the final. During the freedom for independence, one scholar proved as the karma yoga as the base of the scripture. It was needed because the nation wanted total participation of its population. That is why, other aspects were not highlighted. If we see the epic, Arjuna was very well familiar with the war or Karma. He had prepared himself for that.One scholar took bhakti as the base. according to the needs of his cult he's right but the scripture says something else. It is in the favor of the knowledge. While staying in the forest, Arjuna, showed his bhakti towards Krishna, which proves he was familiar with his identity. If anyone thinks, he's receiving the benefit from the commentary of his guru, he must think once more.
