This year, in 2020, Gita Jayanti (December 25) is being observed amid the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in a subdued way or on virtual platforms.
However, I reproduced my earlier article, published in Meri News[1] portal which has been closed down for the time being.
The festival of Gita Jayanti is being celebrated today at Kurukshetra in Haryana. State with fervour, gaiety, devotion along with festivities. However, it is equally important to revisit the central message of the scripture which is revered as a Holy Book by the Hindus. Furthermore, the scripture has a universal appeal due to its philosophical and spiritual appeal cutting across various religions.
The Bhagavad Gita means "Song of the Soul" and it stands for the divine communion of truth-realization which has been described in 700 verses of the scripture, said Nawal Kishore in his late sixties, a resident of Kurukshetra and an alumani of Srimad Bhagvad Gita High School of the city who was taught the verses in his childhood. According to him, the Bhagavad Gita is one of most comprehensive metaphysical and psychological treatise of existentialism, and when followed properly it can take a person to spiritual path of emancipation.
Nawal told that he was most impressed by the philosophy of pro-action or detached action coupled with concept of equipoise in life as expounded in the scripture. The tenet of soul-realization through the paths of action, wisdom and devotion is possible if these aspects are done for their own worth - not to get some worldly gains out of them, he explained.
In his message on the occasion of Gita Jayanti today, spiritualist Swami Krishnananda said, " On this very blessed occasion of the Jayanti of the Bhagavad Gita, which, to speak from purely a historical point of view, was given to us perhaps some 5000 years ago at a place called Kurukshetra, that message is echoing in the ears and the minds and the hearts of all students of yoga and aspirants of truth for all time to come. The Bhagavad Gita is, therefore, the central text of religious consciousness. It is not the text of the Hindu religion. It is not a text of this religion or that religion. It is a text of the religious consciousness, the spiritual attitude to things, and the comprehensiveness of approach that we have to adopt in our conduct in life. Such is the gospel of the Bhagavad Gita."
Calling soul as the eternal psychological state an Bhagavad Gita a gospel of eternity of humans, Swami Krishnananda, says, "The psychological pattern of human nature, which cannot be said to have a beginning or an end, which is there as long as the universe lasts, that perpetual figure of human character and human nature was the recipient of this knowledge coming down from the supreme perfection of a blend of eternity and infinity. Thus viewed, the Bhagavad Gita becomes a gospel of eternity."
"The Bhagavadgita is, therefore, the central text of religious consciousness. It is not the text of the Hindu religion. It is not a text of this religion or that religion. It is a text of the religious consciousness, the spiritual attitude to things, the comprehensiveness of approach that we have to adopt in our conduct in life. Such is the gospel of the Bhagavad Gita," Swami Krishnananda adds.
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