Purpose of this Research Work

          I believe in not just the theoretical knowledge but also to implement them as far as possible in everyday practical situations of my life. I am always keen upon having a practical approach to every theory, may it be physics, chemistry or Lord’s teaching. And the Lord also believes so.

         The purpose behind this research work is to finally come up with a hand-book for me, where the questions of my ignorant mind are answered in totality. Now my questions are not exactly same as Arjuna’s, but their answers are present randomly inside Gitā. The answers need be gathered and written down in a point-wise manner (just as a kid would do while preparing for his exams at school). This research will help me to search, find answers and memorize them sooner, to implement.

        This particular work happens to be the first step towards that goal. So for me, Arjuna, Sanjay or others speech does not hold much importance and hence I have ignored most of them in this work. Once all the 17 chapters of Lord’s teachings are translated word by word. Then my research work will proceed to the second step and that is summing up all the teachings in different chapters for one particular subject.

e.g.: What should be the features of a person who is looking for transcendence?

        Now the answer, to this question spans multiple chapters including the features of Sthita-Prajñā in Sāmkhya Yoga, features of Yogi in Jñāna Yoga, features of Lord’s devotee in Bhakti Yoga and some more. So my mission will be to sum up all the features described by the Lord, removing the repetition and come up with the point-wise answer so that I can follow those in my life.

        I could have taken up several morality books already available in the market answering such questions, but frankly speaking I do not have the confidence in them to consider them as unadulterated form of Gitā teaching (without the author’s own additions). I would rather take years of study and come up with my own version of the teachings for my own.

        So for getting the common meaning of all Sanśkrt words, I have considered multiple sources and I am deeply obliged to all those works and their authors. Some of those are as follows:

          ·         Bhagavad-Gitā As It Is – By Swāmi Prabhupāda

          ·         Srimad Bhagavad Gitā –with English translation and transliteration – By Jayadayāl Goyandka

          ·         The Bhagavad Gitā with the commentary of Sri Ādi Sankarācharya translated by Swami Gambhirānanda.

          ·         Bhagavad Gitā Audio CD – By Pandit Narendra Sharmā, Anup Jalotā


- Śatyanveśi Bharadwāja