The Bhagavad Gita Upanishad

The Bhagavad Gita Upanishad

The Upanishads have their origin in the Vedas. The belief is that the Vedas are without a beginning. For this reason great sanctity is attached to them. But the Bhagavad Gita is an integral part of the Mahabharata, an epic that came into being only the other day. Notwithstanding its recency, the Gita occupies a place on a par with the Upanishads. The reason is not far to seek. The essence of all the Upanishads is contained in the Gita. If those ancient books are cows, the Gita is their milk. Cows are of various hues and of differing stature. But the milk yielded by them is the same. Maintaining cows may not be possible for all. The laborious art of milking is not also commonly known to all. But to partake of milk is the privilege of one and all. The choice of converting this milk into curds, butter and ghee is again in the hands of all. In similar manner, the Gita may be treated as an easily available guide for life here and hereafter. Besides, the cow cannot be taken wherever one chooses to go. In a preserved form milk may be transported anywhere. The idea is that one who has imbibed the teachings of the Gita need not take the trouble of probing into the rather terse contents of the Upanishads. Sri Krishna was gracious enough to clarify the abstract teachings of the Upanishads.

Arjuna’s craving for enlightenment was the immediate cause of this gracious clarification. Love of the calf induces the cow to secrete and yield milk in plenty. That bounteous supply goes to benefit many other parched mouths. This is the case with the Bhagavad Gita also. Milk may be consumed in proportion to one’s digestive power. From the athlete down to the ailing, all can have recourse to it as a wholesome food. The utility of the Gita is equally all-ranging. It is an indispensable guide to a novice who has just commenced his spiritual career. Even to an adept who is at the proximity to the goal it has a message to deliver. Life both in its secular and sacred aspects gets abundantly enriched by the application of the tenets of the Gita. For these reasons a status is conferred on the Bhagavad Gita equal to that of the ancient Upanishads.

Source: Srimad Bhagavad Geeta-Commentary by Swami Chidbhavananda