How important is the Bhagavad Gita when compared to other Hindu texts?

Question

I was raised at LDS (Mormon) in the United States of America. My only real experience with Hinduism is my readings of the Bhagavad Gita this summer (Isherwood translation with introduction by Aldous Huxley).

How central is the Bhagavad Gita to the Hindu religion? How well does it represent Hinduism, standing alone? Is it considered outdated in parts (as the Old Testament is, in Christianity)?

All modern Hindus (Vedantists) rest on three scriptures - the Upanishads, the Brahma-Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita is considered the essence of the Upanishads. It is not outdated. — Swami Vishwananda, Nov 17 '16 at 05:51
@SwamiVishwananda how do you interpret yajna in the Bhagavad Gita in the modern context? — vidyarthi, Nov 18 '16 at 02:55
@SwamiVishwananda the verses in third and seventeenth chapters — vidyarthi, Nov 18 '16 at 04:28
@SwamiVishwananda the verses which start with "अन्नात् भवन्ति भूतानि" in third chapter and "यज्ञस्तपस्तथादानं" in the seventeenth chapter — vidyarthi, Nov 18 '16 at 08:36
@vidyarthi It looks like the first is 3.14. It is not a question of a modern interpretation of yajna, one can simply look to Sankara for commentary. Sankara in his commentary on the verse says the word means sacrifice, and refers to Manu Smriti 3.76 as to his interpretation. Simply because the word yajna is used does not mean it refers to those in the Work portions of the Vedas. See Gita 2.42-44. I'll assume its the same for Chapter 17. — Swami Vishwananda, Nov 18 '16 at 11:07
It is central to smartism and vaishnavism branches of Hinduism. But it is not central to shaivism and shaktism branches of Hinduism. — Aks, Nov 20 '16 at 06:12
For many Hindus who are studying scriptures such as Upanishads, Vedas, Puranas and Itihasas, and especially philosophy of Vedanta, Bhagavad gita is considered to be preliminary study to all these scriptures. Thus Gita is the essence of all vedic wisdom in brief, and contains all the most important points of Vedanta that is required to properly understand all the Hindu scriptures in general. The Bhagavad gita is often recommended to the beginners to start with their study of vedic wisdom. If you study the Gita thoroughly, then you'll gain enough basic vedic knowledge and you are prepared ... — brahma jijnasa, Nov 21 '16 at 01:00
... to study further other scriptures. It's very difficult to the people in general and especially to the westerners to comprehend the Gita and other Hindu scriptures without some guidance, just by reading mere verses translated. Thus it is recommended to read the Gita with a commentary. And there are many commentaries on the Gita written by many traditional Hindu teachers (acaryas) who belonged to some of Hindu traditions (sampradayas). If you are a serious reader, and you want to study the Gita seriously, you may want to study some of those traditional commentaries on the Gita. — brahma jijnasa, Nov 21 '16 at 01:00
@brahmajijnasa Good advice. You should probably put all that in an answer under this question or the other one: How to start reading Bhagavad Gita?. — Say No To Censorship, Nov 23 '16 at 17:53
@sv. Ok, I'll try to do that, thanks for your interest in my comment. — brahma jijnasa, Nov 24 '16 at 02:06

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 16 '16 at 20:14

16

Swami Tattvavidananda Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam writes:

Question

Swamiji, is there some basic text, for example, the Bible in Christianity, that defines the Hindu religion?

Answer

In Hinduism, we have a galaxy of saints, prophets and incarnations of God. We have also inherited a large collection of books. And thus if I have to name a book which represents the essence of Hinduism, it becomes a daunting task. Despite this difficulty, if I am pressed to point out one and only one book, then I would have to say that the book of the Bhagavad Gita represents the essence of Hinduism.

answered Nov 16 '16 at 20:14

Say No To Censorship

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Give scriptural references. Shri Swami Tattvavidananda Saraswati is not our authority. Vedas, Puraanas, Aagamas are – Jun 04 '17 at 14:43
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@AnuragSingh "Swami Tattvavidananda Saraswati is not our authority" - what do you mean by "our" :) IMO, subjective questions like this cannot be answered using scriptures, acharyas routinely comment on such things and it's absolutely fine to quote them on this site. FYI, see #2 in Guidelines for new users answering questions. – Say No To Censorship Jun 05 '17 at 15:06
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okay. I actually said this- "not our authority", because when I said- 'RamaKrishna once said- ''when I followed Islam, I almost worshipped no other God.' ' On this comment, a wise person said thus- 'Ramakrishna is not our authority. Vedas and Agamas are.' – Jun 05 '17 at 19:39
"Our", as per the wise person, is Hindu "Group". And I want to know- What is IMO and FYI – Jun 05 '17 at 19:41
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@AnuragSingh IMO = In My Opinion, FYI = For Your Information. "a wise person said thus..." - you could've told them to stop making silly comments like that and pointed them to the meta post I linked above. It's well within site rules to quote Ramakrishna in support of your answer. – Say No To Censorship Jun 05 '17 at 22:28
Thank you. At the time of our discussion I did not know this point. Thank you so much. Next time it happens I would put up this point. – Jun 06 '17 at 01:19

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 19 '16 at 12:04

The Mahabharata is said to contain all information available anywhere about the four aims of life: wealth (achievement), pleasure (enjoyment), Dharma (righteousness), and salvation (Moksha).

The Bhagavad Gita is said to be the culmination of the Mahabharata, and I believe Book 2, Verse 3 is said to be the essence of the Gita.

क्लैब्यं मा स्म गम: पार्थ नैतत्तवय्युपपद्यते |

क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप || 3||

O Parth, it does not befit you to yield to this unmanliness. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O vanquisher of enemies.

I think the book 2, verse 3 is the one recommended by Swami Vivekananda — vidyarthi, Nov 18 '16 at 02:54

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 23 '16 at 16:21

The Bhagavad Gita is the summary of Hinduism ,written in a Dialectical style, popularised by Socrates. It contains all the Philosophies developed in India during the last 5000 years and discusses the problems in implementing these ideas in practice , using the Mahabharat War as an Example .

How would one , use these apparently self contradictory ideas , in solving another REALISTIC PROBLEM, in another situation and at a different time ? Different philosophers and leaders in different professions ,at different times , have discussed the issue and given their own Answers. Not all Answers are IDENTICAL. The reader will have to use his own judgment in analysing these Answers or DISCOURSES . A cut and paste method will have to be used to find a satisfactory answer or interpretation.

Hinduism ,therefore ,permits every Individual to have his/her own philosophy of life.
Swami Vivekananda,Mahatma Gandhi ,Swami Chinmayananda and Dr.S. Radhakrishnan ,have given their own interpretation of Bhagavad Gita , which are relevant to the Modern World.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 19 '16 at 22:39

since you are not experienced with Hindu scriptures, I advice this:- SrimadBhagwadGita embodies complete truth but it can not be understood by reading only it. The teachings of puranas and scriptures culminate in SrimadBhagwadGita .Chapter 7.2 :- SriKrishna says :- I shall now explain to you fully this phenomenal knowledge along with its full realization: which by knowing nothing further remains to be known in this world. If you are genuinely interested in SrimadBhagwadGita, then you are worthy of our respect because it is said that one becomes interested in reading and understanding it only when one's pious actions of many lives materialize.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 13 '16 at 11:42

Bhagavad Gita was rendered by none other than Bhagavan himself. In Hindu culture, thousands of years ago, we already had the concept of working like Wikipedia. The ultimate knowledge is known only to people who were self-realized, who used to be known as Rishis. The seers, who experienced ultimate knowledge and decided to share it in some form left behind the scriptures and works for the larger benefit of humanity.

Viewed in that sense, Hindus are not guided by any one scripture and the treasure of knowledge is mind-blowing to say the least. The unique distinction of Bhagavad Gita is that it was rendered by none other than an avatar of Narayana himself and as Swami Vivekananda himself explains, ordinary humans in today's age cannot fathom how someone like Krishna lived and walked on earth. He was a super human personality that inspires awe to this age.

Krishna paramatma spelt out Gita in a battle context and therefore it took a certain form and shape. The principles enunciated by Gita re-inforce the messages earlier laid out in Vedas and Upanishads and helps understand them deeper. However, it's not possible to understand the true meaning and depth in one reading and perhaps through one translation. It takes dedication and humbleness to understand the nuances of what Krishna says.

How important is the Bhagavad Gita when compared to other Hindu texts?

5 Answers5