Bhagavad Gita-Sara-Samanvita

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Satyanarayana Dasa, born in 1954, was drawn to the spiritual traditions of his home country India since his childhood. After receiving a postgraduate degree in 1978 from IIT Delhi and working in the United States for four years, he returned to India. There he studied the formal systems of Indian philosophy known as Sad-darsana under the direct guidance of his guru Śrī Haridāsa Šāstrī Mahārāja and Swami Śyāma Šarana Mahārāja. This education was taken up in the traditional manner for more than 25 years, while he dedicated himself as a practitioner of bhakti yoga. In 1991 he accepted the traditional Vaisnava order of renounced life, bābāji-veşa.

His main focus has been with the works of Jiva Gosvāmī, particularly on translating the Sat-sandarbhas into English and commenting on them. He also earned four shastric degrees, and received both a law degree and a PhD in Sanskrit from Agra University.

Satyanarayana Dasa is the director of the Jiva Institute of Vaishnava Studies in Vrindavan, India. In 2013 he was honored by the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee, for his extraordinary contribution in presenting Vedic culture and philosophy, both nationally and internationally.

The Bhagavad Gitā is an ancient text which was spo- ken by Lord Śri Kṛṣṇa to His friend Arjuna more than 5000 years ago. They both belonged to a society which adhered to the principles of varņāśrama-dharma - a social system based on injunctions or moral codes from the teachings of the Vedas' and Smrtis². Thus, some of the terminology used here may seem archaic and sound offensive to the modern mind, but this is how these words were used. The instructions given herein are most relevant even today.

The Bhagavad Gītā is not an independent book, but part of the Mahābhārata, which was written by sage Veda Vyāsa mainly for people who were not eligible to study the Vedas, i.e. they did not belong to the first three classes (the brahmaņas, ksatriyas and vaisyas) of the varnāśrama society. The Mahabharata gives the same essential knowledge as found in the Vedas but in a sim- plified manner through the use of stories. It narrates the history of famous dynasties of India. There were two major dynasties, namely, the sun dynasty and the moon dynasty. In the Bhagavad Gita, the focus is on two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and Pandavas, who appeared in the moon dynasty.

The Kauravas were the 100 sons of Dhrtarāstra, who was blind since birth. Duryodhana was the eldest of them. The Pandavas were the five sons of Pandu, who died while they were still very young.

At a later point, when Yudhisthira grew up to be a young man, Dhrtarăstra gave him a small part of the kingdom and thus Yudhisthira became a king. He was a very righteous and moral king who became very famous and opulent. His brothers and subjects loved him very much. When Duryodhana saw this opu- lence and popularity, he became extremely envious of Yudhisthira. He convinced his father Dhṛtarāstra to in- vite Yudhisthira to a gambling match with the Kaura- vas. Yudhisthira, being very respectful and obedient to his uncle, consented. Duryodhana used the help of his maternal uncle Śakuni, who was an expert in gam- bling, to cheat Yudhisthira and win over his kingdom. Duryodhana later agreed to return the kingdom to Yu- dhisthira and his brothers on the condition that they spend twelve years in the forest and one year incognito.