Table Of Content

Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay COPYRIGHT NOTICE This is a unique literary and art work in the form of a book. This is to universally promote the wonderful message of the Bhagavad Gita in an illustrative and simplified format. © Vikramaditya Raj Urs, 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without the prior permission of the copyright holder. CONTACT: [email protected] The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Title, Number Of Verses Pages The EssentialMessage Expression of Gratitude Sanskrit TransliterationGuide 1. Chapterone (Arjuna VishaadaYoga,47verses) 1- 29 2. Chaptertwo (Sankhya Yoga,72verses) 30- 84 3. Chapter three (Karma Yoga,43verses) 85-121 4. Chapterfour (Jnana Karma SannyasaYoga, 42 verses) 122-164 5. Chapterfive (Sannyasa Yoga,29verses) 165-187 6. Chaptersix (Atma Samyama Yoga, 47 verses) 188-224 7. Chapter seven (Jnana VijnanaYoga,30verses) 225-256 8. Chapter eight (Akshara BrahmaYoga, 28verses) 257-280 9. Chapternine (Rajavidya RajaguhyaYoga, 34verses) 281-311 10. Chapterten (Vibhuti Yoga,42verses) 312-348 11. Chaptereleven (VishvarupaDarshana Yoga, 55verses) 349-397 12. Chapter twelve (Bhakti Yoga,20verses) 398-415 13. Chapterthirteen (KshetraKshetrajna VibhagaYoga, 35 verses) 416-447 14. Chapterfourteen (Gunatraya VibhagaYoga, 27 verses) 448-477 15. Chapterfifteen (Purushottama Yoga,20verses) 478-499 16. Chaptersixteen (DaivasuraSampad VibhagaYoga, 24 verses) 500-520 17. Chapterseventeen (Shraddhatraya VibhagaYoga, 28 verses) 521-540 18. Chaptereighteen (MokshaSannyasa Yoga, 78verses) 541-603 The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay THE ESSENTIAL MESSAGE “A picture speaks a thousand words.” I hope many of us are aware of this popular saying. Our version of Srimad Bhagavad Gita is based on this idea and caters to all those who are finding it difficult to grasp the inner meaning of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Srimad Bhagavad Gita is not a myth, story, song, neither novel, nor even history. This is the simplest yet sophisticated, traditional yet modern, materially useful yet spiritually inclined, transcendental science yet the most confidential knowledge that is very much essential for self-realization and also for attaining the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Srimad Bhagavad Gita is one universal encyclopedia that contains all that one needs to know in order to live here and beyond. Srimad Bhagavad Gita is a storehouse of various philosophies. Many scholars and philosophers have gained inspiration from this classic and have formed their own opinions out of it, thereby most of them misleading with their views, while others leading towards the right path. Let such scholars, who do not respect Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Lord Sri Krishna prove their mettle by writing something original, not by writing dogmatic, ignorant, and misleading commentaries on our holy scriptures. One should read and hear only from authoritative sources about Srimad Bhagavad Gita and submissively offer the self to Lord Sri Krishna, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Authoritative sources are those (commentators) who come in disciplic succession such as Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. We had the utmost benefit of getting initiated from his disciple, Sri Gopala Krishna Goswami Bhagavatpad. He inspired to render illustrations and summary for the Srimad Bhagavad Gita using our artistic and writing skills. A President is only a designation for a particular person, but that person also has a personal name. Similar is the case with God. If asked about the name of God, there are various innumerable names that people know of, but the truth is one ultimate name, and that is Lord Sri Krishna. In the end of all rituals, people say “Sri Krishnarpanamastu”. Why? This is because He is the Ultimate of everything. He is the Ultimate Refuge. The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay Therefore, let us not divert ourselves with ignorance and pride and lose track. There is only one thing we need to do: and that is to surrender ourselves submissively unto Lord Sri Krishna, for He is the cause of all causes, and the Ultimate destination for anything and everything. Sri Shankaracharya stopped at Brahma, yet sang of Govinda. Sri Ramanujacharya guided us to Vishnu. Sri Madhwacharya led us to the path and designated the Lord as Sri Hari. Finally the Lord Himself had to appear as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and clearly specify what form of God we need to worship and surrender unto. And that form of God is Lord Sri Krishna. There will be many philosophies to confuse humanity, but once we know the truth, let us not become ignorant of that imperishable truth, Lord Sri Krishna. We are born humans and have reasoning and are the most intelligent species of life. This is our only chance to improve ourselves, make our lives sublime, and attain to the Kingdom of God-Lord Sri Krishna, which is known as Goloka Vrindavan. If we miss this opportunity then we never know which of the 84,00,000 species we shall fall into. There is no guarantee that the next life will be of human, unless we practice the regulative principles as prescribed in Srimad Bhagavad Gita. With the help of illustrations, we have tried our best under the able guidance of the spiritual master to help even a child (of five years) understand the innermost secrets of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. We hope to help everyone understand the message of Godhead in this process. This soul remains servant of the servants of Lord Sri Krishna Sri A.P.M. Raj Urs (Initiated as “Sri Raja Ram Das Adhikari”) 1936 - 1998 The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE The following persons have contributed excellently with their service for the cause of making this book a reality. They have rendered their true services in the process of its preparation. We like to express our gratitude and heartfelt thanks to them. Digital Photography Sri Kiran Krishna Text Proofreading Smt. Susheela Sri Krishna Prasad Book Design, Page Layout Design, Text rendering, Editing, Formatting, Image Handling, and PDF Generation Sri Vikramaditya Raj Urs The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay SANSKRIT TRANSLITERATION GUIDE The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine Chapter 1 of 18 in the Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay Chapter-1 Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjaya! Assembled to fight, what did my sons and Pandu’s sons do in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukshetra? ||1-1|| The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine 1 Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay Chapter-1 [The Gita is very auspicious as it begins from the word Dharmakshetre, that means - a place of pilgrimage. This is very important. We must know why the battlefield of Kurukshetra is a place of pilgrimage. This significant fact has not been told by any commentator of Gita. Everyone has told that Kurukshetra is a place of pilgrimage. But the fact is, King Kuru, son of King Samvarna had ploughed the area of 8 x 8 kos (one kos = 2 miles) with a golden plough, and had planted ten types of Dharma seeds in that area. As a result of which Righteousness, Truthfulness, Compassion, Forgiveness, and other such fine qualities were produced. We can see the spiritual background of this place in our sacred books. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica and Devi Bhagavata, the area of Kurukshetra is 257 kms. It was selected because it had no defect and hence was a place of Dharma. In the Satyayuga, Lord Mahavishnu expanded His seat and killed the demons Madhu and Kaitabha, in the water. So the place where Lord Mahavishnu sat is exactly the place of Kurukshetra. After killing those demons, their blood, bones, and other parts of the body fell in various locations of the world but the place where the Lord was sitting became uncontaminated. This place where the Lord sat became a virtuous place. That means Mahabharata war was fought for the sake of Dharma, headed by the Lord Himself. Thus, even today people living in this place do not take the ashes of the dead bodies to other pilgrimages like Haridwar, Pushkar or Prayag. The piece of land situated in between the rivers Saraswati and Dhrastavati is Kurukshetra, anyone pure at heart breathes in this land is sure to attain Moksha (liberation). Here we find a total of 360 pilgrimages such as Thaneshwar, Pihowa, Phalgu, Ramaraya, Pindra, Hatakeshwar, Parashara, Barasola, and others. According to Mahabharata, the demigods of Indian pilgrimages come together on every New moon, Solar eclipse, and Lunar eclipse to reside in the lakes here. Lord Brahma saw Lord Surya in this place for the first time. This place is also called Suryakunda. Therefore, its connection with Solar eclipse is enhanced. A kunda is a lake or a tank. This lake is 472.44 mts long and 137.16 mts wide and is surrounded by many temples such as Dhukah Bhanjaneshwara, Dhruva Narayana and that of Lakshminarayana. There is another tank called Brahma sAra which is 1219.2 mts long and 609.6 mts wide . This lake is also called Kurukshetra lake. This Kurukshetra place has now been improved very much and is an attraction for many people, as a place of pilgrimage.] The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine 2 Aaem! nmae _agvte vasudevay Chapter-1 Sanjaya said: O King! After seeing the army of Pandavas, Duryodhana went to his teacher (Drona) and spoke as follows: ||1-2|| The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita – The Song Divine 3