Introduction to the Structure of gita

Among the Vedic literature, Shrimad Bhagavad Gita has the most simple structure. It was recorded in a mode of communication between two sets of people.

Under Set one there are two people...

1.  Dhritarashtra 
2.  Sanjaya

Under Set two there are two people...

1. Arjun/Arjuna
2. Krsna

And Set one is depending upon Set two because whatever statements were exchanging between the people of Set two, those statements were first listened to by the Sanjaya of Set one, and then he was expounding those to Dhritarashtra. So, it is the communication model of exchanging knowledge just like our schools and universities use.

Now, moving on to the environment of this discussion; which is quite unusual compared to the environment of our schools and universities. Cause, the Gita happened in the War field of Kurukshetra when the battle of Mahabharata was just about to begin. Now, allow me to explain the war of Mahabharata but briefly.

                                           The War of Mahabharata which is also known by the name of War of Kurukshetra was a battle among the kings of then Bharatavarsha which was commanded by two groups of brothers one was known by the name of Pandavas and the other was known by the name of Kauravas.

Dhritarashtra was the Pro Tem King (Karyakari Raja) of the Hastinapur the capital of Kuru Rajya. Rajya means Kingdom. Kuru is the name of the dynasty. Kauravas were the sons of the Pro Tem King Dhritarashtra; Dhritarashtra had a hundred sons and one daughter, all their children were genetically modified from the piece of meat which was given birth by his only wife Gandhari, and Pandavas were the sons of his own younger brother Pandu. Pandu was the real king of Hastinapur who left the kingdom because he was cursed by a Rishi.

Pandu married two women. His first marriage happened with the adopted daughter of King Kuntibhoj whom he named Kunti. And his second marriage happened with the daughter of King Madra whom he named Maadri. Kunti gave birth to three sons of Pandu and Maadri gave birth to two more sons. Total he got five sons. Names of the Kunti's sons were...

• Yudhisthir
• Bhim
• Arjun/Arjuna

And names of the sons of Maadri were...

• Nakul
• Sahadev

Shri Krsna with Pandavas

The war of Mahabharata was a property dispute between these brothers known as Kauravas and Pandavs. They involve other kings from different kingdoms in their family matters by the use of Political policies.

After many meetings conducted to resolve this property dispute without getting into war but nothing worked because Kauravas had hatred within their hearts for Pandavas. This is the brief introduction of the war of Mahabharata. Here I want to clarify one thing that this is just the gist of the summary of Mahabharata. There were other factors present behind this war which I didn't mention here, cause it is vast in size to cover in one article. I will discuss these reasons in my gyanbharatha blog.

Shri Krsna giving instructions to Arjun to kill Karna

Now, moving onto the next portion...

If anyone buys a Bhagavad Gita from the market then he/she would find that there are 18 chapters present. But in my previous article, I mentioned the Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata epic, and this conversation is mentioned in the Bhisma Parva from chapter 23 to 40. Here if I quickly do a simple subtraction of these two numbers then it will generate the result...

(40-23)=17

Means there are 17 chapters. Then why market bought Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters in it? It is because the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita has been split into two by Acharyas to make it easy for us to understand it.

The second thing is in some Bhagavad Gita available in the market there are 699 slokas present but in a few others, there are a total of 700 slokas present.

Q. Why does this differentiation exist?

A.  It is because to make it for us the Purvaachariyas added one sloka at the beginning of the 13th chapter of the Gita which is a question asked by the Arjuna to Krsna.

Now, another thing which is when you open Bhagavad Gita for study, you will find that at the top of every sloka which has spoken by Krsna, composer of Bhagavad Gita means Maharishi Bhagavan Krsna Dwaipayan Ved Vyasa acknowledged him as Shree Bhagavan.

Q. Why did he use Shree Bhagavan instead of his different names?

A. To understand this let me tell describe first the meaning of these two Sanskrit Words. So, the word "श्री", "Shree/Shri" means simply the source of beauty. According to Vedas, in this Creation, everything is appearing in a specific form and behind this Universal phenomenon, Shree/Shri is there to manifest all these. Shree/Shri is also the feminine aspect of this grand manifestation which we called as Creation. This is the brief introduction of Shree/Shri. Now, generally people think that the word "Bhagavan" belongs to "Pung Lingaa" or "Masculine gender" but as per the Sanskrit grammar it is not right; this word is constructed by the confluence of two different words one is "Bhag" and "Van". The word "Van" means "Ultimate possessor of" or "King of" or "Ruler of" etc. and this word "Van" actually falls into the list of Indeclinable Words which can be used to point out all the members of the three ganders in Sanskrit Language and the word "Bhag" means "Special Opulence". There are six opulences which are listed in Visnu Puran by Maharishi Parashar. Those are...

aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ |

jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva ṣaṇṇāṁ bhagam itīṅganā ||

      (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47)

Translation:- All riches, all strength, all influence, all wisdom, all beauty, all renunciation these are the six opulences. 

So, the word Bhagavān means who possesses these six opulences in full: all riches, all strength, all influence, all wisdom, all beauty, all renunciation.        

There is another definition of the word Bhagavan present in the Visnu Puran 6.5.78. Which is...

उत्पत्तिं प्रलयं चैव भूतानामागतिं गतिम् |

वेत्तिं विद्यामविद्यां च स वाच्यो भगवानिति ||

Pronunciation:- Outpattim Pralayam chaiba Bhutanamagating Gatim| Baytim Vidyamchavidyam cha sa bachaou Bhagavaniti||

Translation:- That is or he is Bhagavan who or which has the wisdom about the manifestation and transformation of the status of all living and non-living entities of this Cosmos from Creation to Annihilation and also possesses the wisdom of Vidya and Avidya.

There are few other definitions present of this word Bhagavan but those are complex. For Bhagavad Gita, these two definitions are enough and the rest of the definitions will be discussed in the later articles.

Now, I will share the names of the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita and their meanings. It is essential because in the names of these chapters the topic of discussion of that particular chapter is present but in one or two words.

Name of the Chapters of Bhagavad Gita

Chapter	Title	Verses
1	Arjuna's Vishada Yoga	47
2	Sankhya Yoga	72
3	Karma Yoga	43
4	Jnana Yoga	42
5	Karma-Sanyasa Yoga	29
6	Atma Samyama -Yoga	47
7	Vijnana Yoga	30
8	Aksara-ParaBrahma Yoga	28
9	Raja-Vidya-Raja-Guhya Yoga	34
10	Vibhuti-Vistara Yoga	42
11	Viswarupa-Darsana Yoga	55
12	Bhakti Yoga	20
13	Ksetra-Ksetrajna Vibhaga Yoga	34
14	Gunatraya-Vibhaga Yoga	27
15	Purushottama-Prapti Yoga	20
16	Daivasura-Sampad-Vibhaga Yoga	24
17	Shraddhatraya-Vibhaga Yoga	28
18	Moksha-Sanyasa Yoga	78
	Total	700

 

 Meanings of these names...

"Yog/Yoga" has a dynamic and broad meaning but in the crudest sense, it means "Union". Description of this word is present inside the Gita itself. But for now, let consider this crude sense as true.

Arjuna Vishada Yoga                   = Arjuna's Unionism with Depression

Sankhya Yoga                              = Unionism of Numeric Enumeration

Karma Yoga                                 = Unionism of Action

Jnana Yoga                                   = Unionism of Wisdom

Karma-Sanyasa Yoga                   = Unionism of Action and Renunciation

Atma Samyama Yoga                   = Unionism of Oneness with Infinity

Vijnana Yoga                                 = Unionism of Metaphysical and Physical Existence

Aksara-ParaBrahma Yoga             = Unionism of Cosmic Seed Sound with Cosmic Eternity

Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga        = Unionism of Supreme Skill with Supreme Secrecy

Vibhuti-Vistara Yoga                     = Unionism of Cosmic Projected Manifestation of Eternity

Viswarupa-Darsana Yoga              = Unionism of Cosmic Grand Manifestation

Bhakti Yoga                                    = Unionism of Devotion

Ksetra Ksetrajna Vibhaga Yoga     = Unionism of Categorical description of Space and Owner

Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga               = Unionism of Tri-Standards of this Cosmic Manifestation

Purushottama Prapti Yoga             = Unionism of Methodology of knowing the Supreme

Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga = Unionism with descriptions of Virtuous and Evil aspects

Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga        = Unionism of Reverence for Tri-Standards of Cosmos

Moksha Sanyasa Yoga                  = Unionism between Nirvana and Renunciation

This is all about the Structure of the Bhagavad Gita. Now, In the next article, I will discuss the Slokas of Bhagavad Gita.

Thank You😊🙏