5000 years Journey of Timeless Bhagavad Gita (BG)?

·         Lord Krishna revealed Bhagavad Gita to disciple Arjuna at Kurukshetra (3100 BC?)

·         Although not mentioned in Mahabharata Barbarika, son of Ghatotkacha (in Rajasthan, he is worshipped as Khatushyamji), Aravan or Iravan or Kuttantavar, son of Arjuna worshiped in Tamilnadu at Kuttantavar) might have heard BG directly from lord’s mouth according to other books and traditions. Stretching a little Hanuman on the flag (Being enlightened he must had been fully focused on Rama Nama) and the four horses of Arjuna’s chariot (which got burnt on 18^th day of the war, as soon as Lord Krishna alighted) might have heard it apart from Panchamahabhutas, omnipresent Gods, Narada, Rishis, Sidhhas, and Divine souls who often were involved in showering flowers or watching the battles etc.

·         Sanjaya (endowed with divine vision and ears by Vyasa) narrated Bhagavad Gita to Emperor Dhritarashtra while making running Commentary of Kurukshetra war at Hastinapura Palace

·         Omnipresent Vyasa Deva dictated Bhagavad Gita to Lord Ganesha along with rest of Mahabharata in Vyasa’s Ashrama at village Mana near Haridwar (or Basar in Nizamabad district)

·         Krishnadvaipayana (Badarayana) Veda-Vyasa might have taught the same to his disciples  Paila, Vaishampayana, Jaimini, Sumantu and Shuka Deva

·         Vaishampayana recounts Mahabharata (including Bhagavad Gita) to King Janmejaya where along with many others including Ugrashrava Sauti-son of suta Romaharshana at Parikshitagarh District Manipuri (or may be in Takshashila)

·         Part of Jaimini’s Mahabharata (Ashwamegha Parva) is available which is narrated by sage Jaaimini in the court of Emperor Janmejaya

·         Ugrashrava Sauti recited Mahabharata to Kulapati Shaunaka and other Rishis in Naimisharanya (Harivansha was added latter to Mahabharata and Bhrugu Brahmins might have made further additions)

·         Next turning point was Adi Shankara’s (788-820 AD) commentary. Very little is written about Bhagavad Gita before him. Many followers of Advaita Vedanta darshan must have been exposed to BG after his commentary. Followers of all other ‘darshanas’ also must have studied BG to counter his exposition. This is amply demonstrated by large number bhashyas, Vyakhya(na)s Tikas, Tatparya-chandrika, Prameya-dipika, Akhyavy-akhyana, Tattva-dipika, Bharata-bhava-dipah, yathartha-geeta Brahmanandagiri, Amrita-tarangini, Bhava-deepa, Sarvatobhadra, Gudharthadeepika (Madhusudan Saraswati)

·         Bhavartha Deepika (Dnyaneshwari) written by Marathi saint-poet Dnyaneshwar in 1290 AD, Yatharthadipika and Gita samashloki by Vaman pandit (1608–1695), Gita-Tika of Gopibhaskara (1650) a Mahanubhava made Bhagavad Gita available to Prakrit/Marathi audience

·         Alberuni, Arab philosopher poet in his 1030 AD Tahkik-i-hind claims quotes from Bhagavad Gita. Vadeeh Busthani translated BG into Arabic. Mahabharata was translated into Persian during Akbar’s time as Razmnamah (Book of War) by Fayzi eta la (late 16^th century) and BG by Abul Fazl

·         Dara Shikoh got translated the Bhagavad Gita into Persian (around 1657) as Sirr-ol-Asrar.  Guldasta-E-Haqiqat, a lyrical Urdu translation of the BG in the form of a ghazal, by Munshi Shital Prasda (1800),  recently BG translated by Anwar Jalalpuri into 1700 Urdu shers (couplets)-“Urdu Shayari mein Gita,”

·         Sir Charles Wilkins translated Bhagavad Gita and, published in 1785 as Bhagvat-geeta, or Dialogues of Kreeshna and Arjoon atL Nourse, London at the cost of company, through strong support from the governor of British India Warren Hastings (who believed that the book shall survive British rule in India but didn’t think that it shall inspire hoards of freedom fighters). This was only 174 years after translation of Bible in English (1611). His translation of the BG was itself soon translated into French (1787), German (1802) and Latin (1823-Von Schlegel)

·         In 1805 that the first Indian scripture, Bhagavad Gita, was printed at a wooden press in Miraj, Maharashtra

·         Ganpat Krishnaji in 1839 printed “Bhavachandrika-shrikrishnsarjuna samwaad” ie Bhagavad Gita along with simple prose exegesis. In 1841 brought a periodical Dnyanachandrodaya which serialized Sanskrit BG along-with Marathi shloka/arya (Vamana’s), ovi, abhanga and doha

·         Swami Vivekananda started wandering India in 1888 and Western world in 1893 spreading message of Bhagavad Gita

·         Shrimadh Bhagvad Gita Rahasya, known as Gita Rahasya or Karmayog Shashtra, written by BG Tilak-about 500 pages- published in 1915 was made available at Rs 3/-

·         Gita Press established in 1923 at Gorakhapur by Jaya Dayal Goyandka made available Gita at 1/8 Rupee and to date over 41 crore (wikipaedia) copies were sold. Efforts of Theosophists, Vedanta Socity, Ramakrishna Mission, ISKCON, Divine Life Socity, Shankaracharya Peethas and so many other organizations directed their efforts for reaching to masses

·         In 1851 Swami Chinmayananda Started teaching BG through Gita Dnyana Yadnya-activity continued by his illustrious disciples and colleagues world over

·         Lata Mangeshkar’s rendition of BG became available on disc (later on cassettes) in 1967. Many well-known singers and devotees followed the suit. BR Chpora’s TV serial Mahabharata (1988-90), Ramanada Sagar’s Srikrishna (1994) and so many discourses televised by spiritual channels and TV serials exposed people to teachings of BG. Not to say easy availability on cassettes, CDs, youtube, mp3s, etc

·         Gita Supersite initiated with a project undertaken by Dr. T.V. Prabhakar, IIT, Kanpur, funded by the Chinmaya International Foundation (1989). Redone in HTML 1996 presently supported by Ministry of Information Technology is a huge source of information so is sanskritdocuments.org and so many others

·         1993 Sanskrit film Bhagavad Gita directed by GV Iyers got best film awards. Joshua Seftel, the filmmaker of film 'Invitation to World Literature: the Bhagavad Gita' (2012) sees Influence of BG in several Hollywood films "The Legend of Bagger Vance" Karate Kid "The Matrix" and “Star Wars” too.

·         On the behalf of 'Bhagavad Gita Foundation', famous singer and ex journalist L.V.Gangadhara Sastry sung the complete Bhagavad Gita with 700 slokas along with the interpretation in Telugu. On the occasion of completion of this divine project, a short film named 'Making Of Bhagavad Gita' has been launched at Prasad Labs in Hyderabad in 2014.

·         Presently thousands of web-pages related to Gita can be accessed, many study groups are active on www, many books, talks, videos on Gita are available online- free and priced. Information on classes and discourses is at a click of mouse. Sarlo’s Guru rating sites lists many spiritual masters and their organization.

·         Bhagavad Gita has been translated in about 175 languages and dialects, Indian and foreign, including recent ‘Banjara Gitamrut’ by M. Krishna. Many can be downloaded free of cost.

·         In the past people saw Bhakti, Karma, Dnyana, Sanyasa, Rajayoga, Dhyanayoga, Budhhiyoga, Sankhya, Vedanta-Advaita, Dvaita, Dvaita-dvaita, Vishisthadvaita, and so on. Today books and discourses on subjects like Management and Bhagavad Gita, Personality Development and Gita, Environment and Bhagavad Gita, Health/Diet and Bhagavad Gita, and so many other topics are appearing.

·         Krishna met so many people in his life. Many praised him and many hated. Only Arjuna and Udhhava desired to ‘know’. Situation has not changed. Who wants to know? And who can grasp what Lord Krishna really wanted to teach?

malanir mochanam pumsam jala-snanam dine dine
sakrid gitambhasi snanam samsara-mala nasanam
.                                                                                           Gita Mahatmya Adi Sankara
One can become free from contamination by taking bath with water every day, but if one takes bath even once only in the sacred waters of Mother Gita, all the impurities of samsara are destroyed