Gita Original
Shri Sanjay Prasad referred one book “The Original Gita as It was” by Shri Phulgendra Singh. He claimed that only 84 verses of present Bhagavadgita are original and the rest 616 verses are the interpolation. He believed that Vyas was one of the philosophers in the line of Kapila, Buddha, Mahavira and Patanjali. The original Gita was preached to explain Samkhya of Kapila and Yoga of Patanjali, and therefore, beyond chapter III, he believed that everything was interpolated, probably in the 8th century AD.
Sanjay was kind enough to send me the book same day. I read it twice and then started reading Gita between the lines and felt that his claim is neither wrong nor right. However, it will take me some more time to finish all the 18 chapters. However, I hv found that chapter beyond three are also relevant and are in continuation with chapter one two and three barring few odd verses inserted might be by later composers.
It is true that Vyas is explaining the Samkhya and Yoga theories to attain peace, happiness and liberation. But he preached the right path more for the humans living in Samsara. Jnana yoga is mostly followed by the renunciators but one can achieve the same goal of Brahamnirvana while living in Samsara, that has been explained very nicely by Vyas.
As his predecessors (philosophers) didn’t preach inequality of humans and castes by birth, therefore, the verses of caste divisions by birth if any may be considered interpolation.
It is also to note that the translators of Gita are subjective, add their opinion, belief and make it a religious document for Hindus. In fact if translated neutrally and irrelevant verses are removed, it can be a very good guide book for the people of the world to follow while dealing with their day to day mental problems. After all peace and sorrow reside in human mind. It is individual’s choice which to prefer.
The work of Vyas could be dated after Kapil and Patanjali because he has referred Kapil by name in one of the verses and explained the theories of Samkhya and Yoga. He has also referred impermanence part of the nature (Buddha) and the restraints by yogi (Jain) and also taken the lessons of Vedant in it. Therefore, he could be dated around 2nd century BC. As Mahabharata was the popular epic of the time, Gita was likely to be inserted in it to make it way of life by using Krishna as preacher. The composer took a write state of mind of Arjuna in dilemma, before the start of the battle. Kurukshetra near Delhi or Kurukshetra in our mind, Gita is the best guide.
Punamchand
14 December 2020
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