Bhagavad Geeta- The Lord's Song (An Old and Rare Book)

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Dr. K.Madhavan Kutty, Former Principal of the Medical Colleges of Aleppey, Calicut, Trichur and Trivandrum is the founder-director of the Centre for Medical Education. A fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and of Bio- medical Scientists, he is the recipient of the B.C.Roy National award as a distinguished medical teacher.

He has written 50 books and more than 2000 articles. His book on heart diseases was awarded the State award for the best popular science book in 1997 and he was also awarded the State award for scientific Journalism in 1998.

He is the State President of the Bharathiya Vichara Kendra and has written 3 books under the Amritha series. They are a treatise on Bhagwat Geetha, a free verse translation of Bharathruhari's Nectisaara and the present free verse translation of the Bhagwad Geetha.

The Vedas are the fountain head of all knowledge according to the Sanatana Dharma or the ancient Indian code of conduct. The upanishads are the text books of philosophical principles discussing man, world and God. The puranas like Mahabharatha and Ramayana are epics of gigantic proportion Symbolizing the existing social condition and the triumph of justice over injustice.

Shrimad Bhagwath Geetha, the divine song of the Lord occurs in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharatha and comprises of 18 chapters from the 25th to the 42nd. The Geetha is a handbook of instructions as to how every human being can live in tune with the philosophical principles of Vedanta. As Lokamanya Tilak pointed out, the Geetha was not preached either as a pastime for persons tired out after living a worldly life in the pursuit of selfish motives, nor as a preparatory lesson for living such worldly life, but in order to give philosophical advice to thoroughly understand as to how an householder can fashion his life in a dharmic way. It is specially relevant to the youth of this country in the 52nd century of Kaliyuga, misguided as they are by the aberrations of western life-style. Aldous Huxley has said that the Geetha is one of the clearest and most comprehensive summaries of the perennial philosophy ever to have been done. Hence its enduring value, not only for hindus or for the Indians, but for all mankind. The Geetha is a bouquet composed of the beautiful flowers of spiritual truths collected from the Upanishads. (Swami Vivekananda).

In the Geetha, the poet-seer Vyasa has tried to explain Vedic truths in an atmosphere of an imminent fratricidal war. Under this stress, Arjuna was shattered and lost not only his mental equipose, but also his capacity to act with discrimination. In the words of Swami Chinmayananda, Lord Krishna takes in hand that neurotic mind of Arjuna for a Hindu treatment with Vedic truths.

Religion is philosophy in action and requires constant revision and readjustment. This is what Geetha does. In essence Geetha tells us that actions performed without ego-centric desires purge the mind of its deep-seated prejudices and allows it to surge forward to reach the highest pleatean of equanimity.