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ŚRIMAD BHAGAVADGĪTĀ: A JAIN PERSPECTIVE
T. U. Mehta
Bhagvadgītā is one of the most pious treatise of Hinduism. Through the dialogues held between Lord Kṛṣṇā and Arjuna during the battle field of Kurukṣetra, it teaches us as to how the life should be lived in the midst of the dust an din of our usual conflicts of day to day existence. Pointing out the partial and complete similarities in certain concepts of Gītā and Jainism, the author has beautifully touched some of the general trends of Jain perspective of Gītā. - Editor
In early year 2011 when I undertook the task of translating the verses of Gita in English I found them encompassing the spiritual struggle of human soul irrespective of its place of birth or religious traditions. Even a casual look at the verses of Gītā at once conveys an impression that Gītā is not a sectarian scripture. In my understanding Gītā accepts the realities of our phenomenal existence with varieties of mental, physical and spiritual development as life progresses further. Every aspirant in spiritual journey has his individual aspirations, psychic development and cultural education, and therefore, every one of us has different problems to solve. The beauty of Gita's teaching is that it seeks to provide solutions of all these varieties of problems as it does not confine itself rigidly to any particular ideology. In short, it seeks to provide answer to every problem which is likely to arise during the spiritual journey.
It is generally recognized that there are three principal paths of spiritual journey, namely, Jñana (Knowledge), Bhakti (Devotion) and Karma (Action). Gītā recognizes all these three paths and points how to proceed to achieve the final goal of liberation. Gītā recognizes Acārya Samkara's monism as well as the qualified monism of other learned thinkers like Rāmānuja. It also caters to Karma Yoga as propounded by thinkers like Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave. Those who
