|| Shri Hari ||

Meaning of Each Chapter of the Gita

गीताके प्रत्येक अध्यायका तात्पर्य

गीताध्यायस्य निष्कर्षं ज्ञातुमिच्छन्ति ये जनाः

तैः सुखपूर्वकं ग्राह्यस्ततः   सारोऽत्र  लिख्यते ॥

First Chapter

Due to attachment only a person becomes derelict in his duties by getting stuck in the dilemma of ‘what should I do and what should I not do’. If he doesn’t come under the control of attachment then he cannot become derelict of his duties.

People having reverence towards Bhagwan, religion, paradise etc. often have panic, dilemma that if we don’t do activities received in the form of duty then our downfall will happen;  if we engage only in worldly activities then our spiritual progress will not happen;  by engaging in worldly dealings, spiritual dealings will not happen properly and by engaging in spiritual dealings, worldly dealings will not happen properly; if we will leave family then we will commit sin and if we will stay within family then our spiritual progress will not happen; etc-etc.  The meaning is that we want our spiritual well-being, but due to sense of mine-ness and desire of worldly pleasures, we cannot leave the (attachment towards) the world. This similar dilemma takes place  in Arjun’s mind as well,  that if I fight then due to the destruction of my kith and kin, there will be obstruction in my spiritual well-being; and if I do not fight then due to straying away from my duty, there will be obstruction in my spiritual well-being.

Second Chapter

Give importance to one’s conscience and fulfilment of one’s duty – of the two approaches, if man follows anyone with perseverance then sorrows-tensions are removed.

All the bodies that are seen, are going to perish, to die, but the one who lives in them (the indweller) never dies. Like body leaves childhood to take on adulthood and leaves adulthood to take on old-age, same way the one who lives in the body, leaves one body and takes another body. Like man leaves old clothes and wears new clothes, same way the one who lives in the body leaves clothes like one body and wears another. All favourable-unfavourable situations that come, they were not there earlier and will not remain later also and in-between also every second they are getting separated only. The meaning is that situations have the nature of coming-going, their nature is not of permanency. If in this manner there is clear conscience then panic, sorrow-tension cannot remain. Whatever duty-activity is received in compliance with scriptures, fulfilling that by being equanimous (unbothered) in completion-incompletion of that activity and achieving-not achieving its result then confusion cannot remain.

  (to be continued )

‒From the book in Hindi ‘Gita-Darpan’  by Swami Ramsukhdasji