Gīta Bhāshya Introduction

dēvaṁ nārāyaṇaṁ natvā sarvadōṣavivarjitam। paripūrṇaṁ gurūṁścān gītārthaṁ vakṣyāmi lēśataḥ॥

I worship the supreme personality Nārāyana, the all-pervading one, who is devoid of all defects, who is complete in all aspects, and also my Guru, and explain the meaning of Gīta to my capacity.

Summary

The essence of Vedic knowledge was difficult to understand for common people in olden days. Also, it was inaccessible to working class and women. Kind-hearted dēvas seeing the suffering of the ignorant people, prayed to Godhead. The merciful lord appeared as sage Vyasa and composed Mahabharata to impart transcendental knowledge. It shows the nature of both impediments and enablement, the way to overcome accumulated sins and the means to realise reality. It also shows how to get liberation through the knowledge of dharma. By studying it, one can gain kēvala-jnāna, the transcendental knowledge that results in liberation. The significance of Mahabharata and divinity of Vyasa as incarnation of the Godhead is established by providing various testimonials. These testimonials are drawn from various traditional texts (smritis) and statements coming down through disciple succession (risi-sampradāya). Within Mahabharata "Bhagavad-Gita" in the form of a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna, contains its essence. Hence, one should study the same.

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