The Bhashyam for the Srimad Bhagavad Gita begins with a prayer to Bhagavan Sriman Narayana who is beyond the manifested creation. From the unmanifest, he created this egg. From this egg came all these worlds, the seven oceans and this earth too. The Acharya does not write a commentary for the whole first chapter called the Arjuna Vishada Yoga-  the chapter on Arjuna’s grief. The lamentation continues in the second chapter for up to 10 verses and so there is no commentary for that also. The reason for this according to scholars is that grief is well known to us and needs no explanation.
The Upodghatah is an introductory chapter on the reason for the need of the commentary on the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita.

That Ishwara after having created this world wished to maintain it. Having created the Prajapatis – Marichi and others, he trained them to absorb the path of action as ordained by the Vedas. Then he created others such as Sanaka, Sanandana and others and he made them undertake the path of withdrawal from action and of remaining a seer through knowledge of the Self and detachment from other thoughts.

The paths of responsibilities expounded in the Vedas are of two types – the path of action and the path of withdrawal from action. For the sake of maintaining the world and in order to be a direct cause for material prosperity and spiritual unfoldment, this Dharma was being followed by the Brahmanas, people of the four stages of life such as the Brahmachari, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and the Sanyasi, the Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras who wished to attain the best.

Over a long course of time, when overwhelming desire manifested in the hearts of the followers of this path of action, they were overcome by unrighteousness as their intellect was unable to distinguish between what is the truth and what is transitory. At this time, the primordial creator called Bhagavan Narayana or Vishnu, wishing to protect the world and wishing to protect the quality of Brahmanhood in the Brahmanas on earth, he indeed incarnated as Krishna, born of Devaki as the essence of Vasudeva. With the protection of Brahmanhood, the vedic tradition protected by the Brahmanas and the different groups of people – the Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras in the four different stages of life who are dependent on the Vaidika Dharma are protected.

That Bhagavan, ever endowed with the qualities of knowledge, lordship, power, strength, energy and brilliance, having brought under his control the Vaishnavi Maya belonging to his own Self, endowed with the three qualities of Satwa, Rajas and Tamas, the primordial force of creation, even though He has no birth, is inexhaustible, the lord of all elements, endowed with the quality of eternity, purity, knowledge and freedom, owing to His own Maya, appeared as if He had a body, as if He was born and was known to be as if blessing the world. Even though He did not have anything to gain, yet for the sake of blessing the beings of the world, Bhagavan pronounced these two paths of righteous living to Arjuna who was absorbed in an ocean of sorrow and delusion. He taught so that if those people endowed with good qualities accepted the teachings and followed them, that path of action would spread well.

That path of righteousness called the Gita which has been taught by the omniscient Master Veda Vyasa was composed in 700 verses. That is this text called the Gita which is of the nature of the essence and meaning of all the Vedas and is difficult to comprehend. To expand upon the meaning, many have made efforts to split the word and its meaning, the sentences  and their meaning and logic and finally arrived at  extremely contradictory meanings with ubiquitous explanations by the people of the world. Observing this, I am going to briefly explain the meaning to ascertain its meaning from the space of clear distinction.
This Dharma indeed  is the brief explanation of the purpose of the text of Gita which grants supreme liberation from transmigration – along with its causes – which is of the nature of unlimited quietude. That happens through the means of  giving up all actions and remaining in the nature of being established in the knowledge of one’s own Self.

In this manner, considering the meaning of the essence of the Gita, even Bhagavan has said in the Anugita, “This path indeed is completely enough for knowing the state of Brahman.” Furthermore, in the same place, it has also been said, “The one who has merged in that state of that one Brahman, remaining quiet and  thinking of nothing, is neither one who does good actions nor one who does bad actions and neither indeed is he auspicious nor is he inauspicious“.

Further, knowledge is of the nature of renunciation. Here too it has been said in the end to Arjuna, “Give up all duties and surrender to me alone.” Whatever actions that have been prescribed for the different orders of society to attain progress in the world of change, even though they can give the result of attaining  positions of the gods, come with temporary results, If it is done without desires for specific results, as an offering to Ishwara, it can clear the inner subtle equipment called the antahkarana. For the one with a pure mind, by attaining the qualification to be established in the knowledge of the Self, it becomes the cause for the generation of knowledge, it also acquires the cause of spiritual unfoldment.

In this way, considering this meaning itself, he says, “Offering actions unto the Brahman, those Yogis do actions without attachment for the sake of purification of mind.“

The special purpose of the Gita Shastra which expounds the two-fold path is to realise that supreme goal  of the essence of the ultimate Self called Vasudeva, the supreme being. As understanding the meaning of the Gita grants us all the goals of life, I make an attempt here to elucidate the text.

Om Tat Sat, Brahmacharini Sharanya Chaitanya