Why would one want to study the Bhagavad-gītā?

Let’s imagine that the Supreme creator would write a book. Would you not be curious to read it, and see what He has to tell us?

« The Song of God: An in-depth study of the Bhagavad-gītā (Volume 1)

Let’s imagine a friend just appeared with a brand-new BMW. After the initial shock and awe, you ask where he got the car and he answers that it was the product of an explosion in the junkyard: A meteor fell, creating a huge explosion that made all pieces of metal rise high in the sky. Somehow, by chance, as the pieces fell into place, everything fit together to create a beautiful car, coincidentally the last model.

Certainly, most of us would not be very amazed by such an answer. It would sound absurd. We could even feel offended, concluding that he is belittling our intelligence.

Similarly, we could imagine if someone would tell us that a beautiful book, complete with illustrations, hardcover, and a dust jacket, came out of an explosion in the stationery store. One could consider that there could be a small possibility that all the papers, paints, and glues would fly into the air and land exactly in order to create a book with letters and illustrations, but most would not be very satisfied with this explanation.

In both situations our rational side automatically rejects this kind of explanation, considering it absurd. Even unconsciously we understand that any type of goods or products must have been produced by someone. There is no case in the registered history of a car appearing out of an explosion in a junkyard or a book emerging as a result of papers and paints flying in the air. In every case, someone needs to work hard to design and manufacture the car, or to write, print, and bind the book. We may not know about who made the project, and who was involved in the production, as well as the different technologies employed or the challenges they faced, but we can assume that some talented persons were responsible for it. Unconsciously, we understand that every creation has a creator. We may not understand who made it, or how, but we understand it was made by someone.

However, when we discuss the Universe, we frequently receive the answer that it just appeared by chance, out of a cosmic explosion, forgetting that the Universe includes all the buildings, all the cars, and all the books. If a single one of these objects can’t be produced by chance, how reasonable would it be to consider that the collective of all could be produced by random interactions of material elements?

The Big Bang theory is based on the assumption that all matter once formed a singularity, and unknown forces made it expand quickly, creating an explosion. The interaction of the different material elements gave birth to the physical laws, and these made the matter organize in a certain way, creating the first atoms, that in turn condensed into stars, which led to the creation of heavier elements, and so on. A few billion years later, chance gave birth to self-replicating RNA molecules, that by chance found themselves encased in cell membranes, conveniently stocked with different organelles, resulting in the first living organisms. Due to chance, these primitive organisms evolved over the course of a few billion years, resulting in complex organisms, like cows, elephants, and human beings.

While this may sound like a perfectly rational explanation, it’s actually not much better than the idea of an explosion in the junkyard resulting in a BMW. Both theories are based on the idea of chance. However, chance is not a good explanation for complex phenomena. How long would it take for a chimpanzee randomly typing letters in a typewriter to come up with an Encyclopedia Britannica? One year? One thousand years? One billion years? Would it not be more rational to accept that the encyclopedia didn’t manifest by chance but from the hard work of a team of human beings?

"Chance" is just a word used when one does not know the cause of something. To save face, one can say it happened by chance and a few may believe him, but one that is a little more well-informed will see that this is just due to his lack of knowledge. Everything has a cause, the question is to understand what the cause is.

A rational conclusion is to presume that just as every object in our civilization has a creator, the Universe also has a creator. It would be also logical to presume that this creator is more intelligent than us since his creation is more complex, including even self-replicating intelligent beings capable of questioning their own existence. We may call this creator by different names, or even frankly admit that we can’t understand him, but it’s logical to conclude that once there is a creation, there must be a creator.

Let’s now imagine that this creator would write a book. Would you not be curious to read it, and see what He has to tell us?

This is exactly the premise of the Bhagavad-gītā. The word gita means "song", and Bhagavān is the Sanskrit word for the Supreme Being, the one who possesses all opulence. Therefore, "Bhagavad-gītā" means "The song of the Supreme" or "The song of God".

The Supreme can be understood in three aspects, defined in the Vedic literature as Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. The aspect of Brahman is impersonal and vague. One who realizes this aspect sees the divine as a spiritual force that is beyond this material cosmos. One who realizes the Paramātmā aspect understands that apart from being a spiritual force, God also has a form and He is present everywhere. Finally, one who realizes the Bhagavān aspect can understand that the Lord has an unlimited spiritual form, who is the source of all that exists, and with whom we can develop a transcendental relationship. God has many names, but His original name is Krsna, the all-attractive. The Bhagavān aspect is defined in the term "Supreme Personality of Godhead" used by Srila Prabhupada in his books. This term indicates that although being unlimited, he has a personal form and intellect, although not composed of material elements like in our case.

Chronologically speaking, the Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Krsna to Arjuna right before the beginning of the Kurukṣetra war, believed to have happened in 3102 BCE, and was recorded by Vyāsadeva, as part of his herculean work in compiling the whole Vedic literature.

This is a book that accompanied humanity for most of recent history. It was studied by many of the greatest thinkers, including Einstein, Gandhi, Thoreau, Emerson, Jung, and many others, who found great inspiration in it. Thoreau, for example, wrote that "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-gītā, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial". During the centuries the Bhagavad-gītā served as a source of enlightenment for millions of people from the most diverse cultures and ways of life, from housewives to emperors.

But what is the proof of the authenticity of the Bhagavad-gītā? How could we be sure that it was not just some old philosopher who for the lack of anything better to do decided to fabricate something that would fool everyone? What would be proof of the Bhagavad-gītā’s authenticity?

This could be answered with an example: suppose someone would come to you with a cake. How could you be sure that this is a real cake and not just a plastic imitation? There is an easy way to ascertain it beyond doubt: you just need to taste it. By the taste, consistency, etc. one can easily understand if it’s a real cake or an imitation. Therefore, we can say that one can attest to the authenticity of the cake by simply tasting it.

Similarly, the best way to be sure of the authenticity of the Bhagavad-gītā is to simply study it. The Bhagavad-gītā is such a startling book that it could not have been composed by a human being. It’s a book that not only was composed thousands of years ago and is still up to date, bringing answers to problems and issues we face in the modern era, but also is surprisingly capable of giving different answers to each person who reads it.

This is something very unique in the Bhagavad-gītā. Different books serve different people: there are books for physicians, engineers, computer science students, etc. An engineering book will not be very useful for a cardiologist for example. In the case of the Bhagavad-gītā however, a philosopher will read and find answers to his life questions, a dentist will read and find answers to his inquiries, a housewife will read and find answers to her doubts, and so on. It’s a book that contains infinite meaning and can reveal different answers according to what is needed by the reader. No matter where one is, the Bhagavad-gītā can help him or her find the next step to take. This is what makes the Bhagavad-gītā so mysterious. As we study and find answers to our life questions, we can get proof of the divine origins of the Bhagavad-gītā.

Here, we will study the main topics covered in the Bhagavad-gītā. The goal is to go deep into the meanings of this extraordinary book and find ways to apply it in your practical life, finding not only solutions for immediate problems but the path to transcendental life.

« The Song of God: An in-depth study of the Bhagavad-gītā (Volume 1)