Yatharth Geeta: The Geeta In Its True Perspective

About the Author:

The author of the Yatharth Geeta is a saint who is bereft of wordly education, yet is internally organised by the grace of accomplished Guru, which became possible after a long practice of meditation. He considers writing as an obstacle on the path to the Supreme Beatitude yet his directions became the cause for this treatise. The Supreme Being had revealed to him that all his revealed to him that all his inherent mental attitudes have been nullified excepting a minor one writing of "Yatharth Geeta" initially he had tried his best to cut this attitude too, through meditation, but the directive prevailed. Thus the treatise, "Yatharth Geeta", became possible wherever mistakes crept into the treatise the Supreme Being himself rectified them. We bring forth this book with the wish that the swamiji's motto "the internalized archive peace" would become "peace for everyone at the end".

Publishers' Note:

What were the inner feelings & emotions of Shri Krishn when he preached the Geeta? All inner feelings cannot be expressed in words. Some can be told, some are expressed through the body language, and the rest are to be realized which can only be understood by a seeker through experiences. Only after attaining the state which Shri Krishn had been to, an accomplished teacher knows what Geeta but, in fact, gives expressions to the inner feelings of the Geeta. This is possible because he sees the same picture which was there when Shri Krishn preached the Geeta. He therefore, sees the real meaning, can show it to us, can evoke the inner feelings and would lead us on the path to Enlightenment.

'Rev. Shri Paramhansji Maharaj' was also an enlightened teacher of such a level and the compilation of his words & blessings to grasp the inner feelings of the Geeta itself is the 'Yatharth Geeta'.

It appears that there is no need of any further exposition of the Geeta. Hundreds of commentaries, out of which more than fifty are in Sanskrit, have been attempted so far. But, although there are scores of interpretations, they have a common basis- the Geeta, which is only one. Why, then one may wonder, are there all these divergent opinions and controversies when Yogeshwar Krishn's message must of necessity have been only one? The proclaimer verily speaks of truth that is only one, but if there are ten listeners they construe his meaning in ten different ways. Our grasp of what has been said is determined by the extent to which we are under the domination of one of the three properties of nature, namely, sattwa (moral virtue and goodness), rajas (passion and moral blindness), and tamas (ignorance and darkness). We cannot comprehend beyond the limitations imposed by these properties. So it is logical that there should be all these disputes about the import of the Geeta-"The Lord's Song."

Men fall prey to doubts, not only because many different views are held on a given subject, but also because of the fact that the same principle is often enunciated in different ways and styles at different times. Quite a good many existing commentaries on the Geeta are touched by the current of truth, and yet if one of them- even a just and correct interpretation-is placed among a thousand other interpretations it is almost impossible to recognize it for what it is. Identification of truth is an onerous task, for even falsehood wears the "brows" of truth. The many expositions of the Geeta all profess that they represent truth even though they may not have any inkling of it. As against this, even when quite a good many interpreters did succeed in coming by this truth, for a number of reasons they were prevented from giving a public utterance to it. The much too common inability to get at the meaning of the Geeta in its true perspective may be attributed to the fact that Krishn was a yogi, an enlightened sage. Only another great and accomplished Soul-man of knowledge and discernment-who has gradually attained to the ultimate spiritual goal discoursed upon by Krishn can realize and reveal the real intent of the Yogeshwar when he preached to his friend and disciple Arjun. What is within one's mind cannot be fully expressed by mere words. While some of it is communicated by facial expression and gestures, and even by what is named "eloquent" silence, the rest that is still unexpressed is something dynamic and seekers can know it only through action and by actually aversing the path of quest. So only another sage who has himself trodden the path and arrived at Krishn's sublime state may know what the message of the Geeta really is. Rather than just reproducing lines from the scripture, he can know and demonstrate its intent and significance, for Krishn's insights and preceptions are also his insights and perceptions. Since he is a seer himself, he cannot only show the essence but also awaken it in others, and even prompt and enable them to embark on the way that leads to it.

My noble teacher-preceptor, the most revered paramhans Parmanand Ji Maharaj, was a sage of such achievement; and Yatharth Geeta is nothing but a compilation of the meaning that was derived by the author from his teacher's utterances and inner promptings. Nothing that you will find in this exposition belongs to me. And this meaning, as the reader is about to see, embodies a dynamic, action-oriented principle that has to be undertaken and personally gone through by everyone who has taken to the path of spiritual seeking and accomplishment. So long as he is removed from it, he has evidently not set upon the way of worship and meditation but is yet roaming about amidst the maze of certain lifeless stereotypes. So we have to take refuge in a sage-a Soul of the highest attainment, forthis is what Krishn has commended. He explicitly admits that the truth he is about to illumine has also been known to and celebrated by other sages. Not once does he profess that only he is aware of this truth or that only he can reveal it. On the contrary he exhorts worshippers to seek haven under a seer and imbibe knowledge from him by an innocent, guileless ministering to his needs. So Krishn has but proclaimed the verities that have also been discovered and witnessed to by other sages of true accomplishment

The, Sanskrit in which the Geeta is bodied forth is so simple and lucid. If we but make a patient and careful perusal of its syntax and the etymology of its words, we can understand most of the Geeta by ourselves. But the difficulty is that we are disinclined to accept what these words really signify. To cite an instance, Krishn has declared in unambiguous terms that true action is the undertaking of yagya. But we yet persist in asserting that all the worldly business in which men are engaged is action. Throwing light upon the nature of yagya, Krishn says that while many yogi undertake it by offering pran (inhaled breath) to apan (exhaled breath), and many sacrifice apan to pran, yet many others regulate both pran and apan to achieve perfect serenity of breath (pranayam). Many sages resign the inclination of their senses to the sacred fire of self-restraint. Thus yagya is said to be contemplation of breath of pran and apan. This is what the composer of the Geeta has recorded. Despite this, however, we adamantly hold that intoning swaha and casting of barley grains, oil seeds, and butter into the altar-fire is yagya. Nothing like this has been even suggested by Yogeshwar Krishn.

How to account for this all too common failure to comprehend the true meaning of the Geeta? Even after a great deal of hair- splitting and cramming, all that we succeed in getting hold of, is nothing more than the external framework of its syntactical order. Why perforce, we should find out, do we find ourselves deprived of truth ? As a matter or fact, with his birth and growing up a man inherits the paternal legacy of home, shop, land and property, rank and honour, cattle and other livestock, and now-a-days even machinery and appliances. Precisely in the same way he also inherits certain customs, traditions, and modes of worship: the evil legacy of all the three hundred and thirty million Hindu gods and goddesses who were identified and catalogued long ago as well as of the innumerable various forms of them all over the world. As a child grows up, he observes his parents', his brothers' and sisters', and, his neighbours' way of worship. His family's beliefs, rites, and ceremonies are thus permanently imprinted on his mind. If his heritage is worship of a goddess, all his life he recites only the name of that goddess. If his patrimony is worship of ghosts and spirits, he cannot but endlessly repeat the names of those ghosts and spirits. So it is that while some of us adhere to Shiv, some others cleave to Krishn, and yet others cling to this or that deity. It is beyond us to forsake them.

If such misguided men ever get a propitious, sacred work like the Geeta, they fail to grasp its real import. It is- possible for a man to give up the material possessions he has inherited, but he . cannot rid himself of inherited traditions and creeds. He can relinquish material belongings that are his legacy and go far away from them, but even there he is doggedly pursued by the thoughts, beliefs, and usages that have been ineradicably engraved on his mind and heart. He cannot after all cut off his head. It is for this reason that we also construe the truth contained in the Geeta in the light of our inherited assumptions, customs, and modes of worship. If the scripture is in harmony with them and there is no contradiction between the two, we concede it's veracity. But we either reject it or twist it to suit our convenience if this is not the case. Is it surprising then that more often than not we miserably fail to comprehend the mysterious knowledge of the Geeta? So this secret continues to remain inscrutable. Sages and noble teacher-preceptors, who have known the Self as well as his kinship with the Supreme Spirit, are on the other hand knowers of the truth that the Geeta embodies. Only they are qualified to say what the Geeta proclaims. For others, however, it remains a secret which they can best resolve by Sitting devotedly as earnest disciples near some sage of awareness. This way of realization has been repeatedly emphasized by Krishn.

The Geeta is not a holy book that belongs to anyone individual, caste, group, school, sect, nation or time. It is rather a scripture for the entire world and for all times. If is for all, for every nation, every race, and for every man and woman, whatever be their spiritual level and capacity. Irrespective of this, however, just hearsay or someone's influence should not be the basis for a decision that has a direct bearing upon one's existence. Krishn says in the last chapter of the Geeta that even just hearing its mysterious knowledge is indeed salutary. But after a seeker has thus learnt it from an accomplished teacher, he also needs to practise it and incorporate it into his own conduct and experience. This necessitates that we approach the Geeta after freeing ourselves from all prejudices and preconceived notions. And then we will indeed find it a pillar of light.