Sanjeev Kumar Sharma
sanjeev.sharma31@yahoo.com
As I remember, in my childhood days, it was a common practice in our locality to call some Brahmin to recite some Shlokas of Bhagwat Gita for someone who was about to die as the people used to believe that doing so might make the dying person land in heaven under the care and blessings of Almighty ‘Eshwar’.
While the practice has survived even to the present day, little changes due to the advent of technology are clear and at present Brahmin is rarely called due to the paucity of time and the relatives of the dying person play the Shlokas of Gita over their smartphones using the social media platform of YouTube or some app.
This practice prevalent in Hindu society clearly explains the relevance of Gita even in the present era wherein the people believe that even by reciting the Shlokas of Gita or listening them will fetch salvation.
Now, we are having a special occasion ‘Gita Jayanti’ to realise and remember the greatness of our spiritual text called ‘Bhagwat Gita’ and aware the maximum people we can, about the metaphysics contained in it, so that the humans may follow the path of righteousness to remain morally upright in their lives.
The festival of ‘Gita Jayanti’, an annual event, is being celebrated on December 1, 2025,in the Hindu month of Margashirsha and it commemorate the birth of ‘Bhagavad Gita’ and as‘Gita Jayanti’ falls on MokshadaEkadashi—a day believed to grant liberation to souls by good deeds, many people also observe MokshadaEkadashi fast on this day for purification of mind, soul and their physical body.
We all know that in ‘Bhagavad Gita’, Lord Krishna, incarnation of Lord Vishnu, acting as the charioteer guide of Arjuna, enlightened him with spiritual wisdom which guided him to come out of the moral dilemma he was in at the onset of the Mahabharata war—believed as the most devastating and bloody among wars fought on the earth so far.
The Gita Jayanti 2025 is believed to be the 5162nd during which the main celebration is being held in the form of an international event in Kurukshetra (Haryana) while programmes are being organised by many organisations in many other parts of the world also.
The devotees celebrate this day by doing meditation, reciting Shlokas of Bhagavad Gita, helping the helpless, spreading the spiritual messages contained in Gita and by doing many more deeds for spiritual awakening.
Yet another common thing linked with the Gita which clearly establishes its importance these days, is its use in the Courts of Law.
“Main Gita Par Haath Rakh Kar Kasam Khata Hun K Sach Kahunga Aur Sach Ka Siva Kush Na Kahunga.
(I swear by Gita that I will speak only truth and nothing else than truth.”
Almost everyone of us is familiar with this popular dialogue of Bollywood Hindi movies especially during some scene of a court room.
However, certain intellectuals in our society feel that the spiritual text like Bhagwat Gita should not be used in the courts for proving that one speaks the truth as to escape the penal actions one may even lie after placing hands over the Gita.
A bitter truth that comes to fore hereis that if all the people were taught Gita well in time and if they all have understood it and followed it honestly, then there would be bright chances for no sins or crimes by the humans.
The telecast of popular Hindi serial ‘Mahabharat’ few decades back on Doordarshan familiarised almost whole of the country with the events of that era and, as the TV serial started with recitation of Shlokas of Bhagwat Gita like ‘Yada Yada He Dharmasya…’ etc, the same stayed on lips of even common people those days.
Gita Jayanti Special
Introduction to Bhagwat Gita:
Bhagavad Gita was written by Maharishi VedVyas and it contains 18 chapters with a total of 700 verses called Shlokas explaining the essence of selfless actions, devotion, spiritual knowledge, mystic truths, metaphysical wisdom and much more to guide the disillusioned humanity to live with spiritual discipline of high morals. A unique thing about Gita is the spiritual text contained in it which attracts the readers again and again and every time one finds something new on reading it.
Though every Shloka of Gita is veryimportant and has an in-depth meaning, but, for the sake of convenience, I will now touch only a few things contained in the Gita.
First and the last Shloka:
Sanjay, a minister in the court of king Dhritrashtra was provided with a special vision to see the happenings in the war zone of Kurukshetra to timely update Dhritrashtra on the same.
The first Shloka goes like this:
Dhritrashtra asks Sanjay that in the battlefield of Kurukshetra what his and Pandav’s sons have done.
The lasts Shloka goes like this:
Here Sanjay says, where Lord Krishna and Arjunaare, the victory is sure. This means where the God and his followers are, there will be sure success and proper guidance to achieve the victory.
Eternal Character of Soul: In the 2nd chapter of Bhagwat Gita when Arjun slips into dilemma finding his dear ones in the battlefield ready to fight against him, Krishna counsels him saying that the soul neither dies nor is born and all those in the battlefield were also there earlier and they will remain there also after the war. He says that like a human body grows from a child to young age and then to old age, similarly after death the soul gets some new body.
“Before the birth, one had no physical body and after death also one will have no physical body. As the physical body only appears in between, so there is no prudence to feel sad about its loss,” Lord Krishna maintained. He asks Arjuna to pick up the weapons and fight the enemy as on winning he may enjoy the rule of this earth and on martyrdom he will get paradise but if he says no to the war, then humiliations from the enemy will taunt him.
The Viraat Roop: In chapter 11, Krishna responds to Arjuna on manifestations of the God and His mystic powers and provides him with special divine vision to see that, as the natural eyes of Arjuna were incapable to see that view of the Almighty. This view of the God in Bhagwat Gita is described as the one having a body with numerous eyes and several mouths beautified with divine ornaments and holding Godly weapons in hands along with divine rosaries. The God is viewed in divine dress with divine fragrance and His appearance contained all type of astonishments with a vast body which the Arjuna saw. Brightness at that place was such that it could fail the light of thousands of suns in the sky and Arjuna viewed the entire universe within the body of that divine being. Krishna tells Arjuna that this appearance of the Supreme was not seen by anyone else earlier.
Conclusion: In the last chapter-18, Krishna said that we should believe that whatever we do is being done by the blessing of the God, and the God again is there to bless us with the fruits of whatever we do.
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