The Bhagavadgita
01/01/1970
The Bhagavadgita is an integral part of the ancient Indian epics “Mahabharata”, which explicates the aim, the character and the deep meaning of the basic segment of the epic plot – the battle at Kurukshetra. Through the millennia of its existence the Bhagavadgita has been functioning also as a separate text of the oral and written traditions. It has always been an authority of the knowledge of existence and the teaching of human perfection in the variety of schools within the traditional Indian educational system known asguru-shishya parampara. The vital power of the knowledge embodied in the Bhagavadgita has been transcending the boundaries of time and cultural space. The text till the day functions in its specific authentic and authoritative ways, part of which is its continuing commentary and translation traditions.
Understanding the Gita is a process. It pertains to a certain level of preliminary intelligence and education, then to a profound and prolonged teaching-study process to secure the personal exploration and experience needed to overcome the cultural gap between the ancient text and the contemporary perceiver. In this sense Chapter 12 is comparatively more comprehensive part of the text in that it dwells upon self perfection through such notions of common understanding like devotion, pure heartedness, belief and love.