The Srimad Bhagwadgita : My Understanding of It.

Preface:
I do many a thing out of being propelled by the force I feel driving me from within. Only a few months ago, one fine morning it occurred to me that I should just copy down all the 700 shlokas of the Bhagwadgita. Hitherto I had been only simply reciting aloud these without understanding much of it. It was in the name of praying God for the sake of pleasing Him to seek many a thing what an earthly creature like me is generally found to be preoccupied with. When I copied the same I felt prompted to give shape to my understanding, if any, of this great text. For this it was necessary to go through some of the  commentaries on it. This enterprise of mine, I feel, changed me into a person who now identifies himself as a striver(साधक rather मृदुसाधक that is a striver of beginner's category having still given to sensual pleasure).
Thus the present writing about this great Book is a consequence of labouring under the notion that I should also write down in my own way what I understood upon studying this Godly Creation. As there exists a number of Books in the form of commentaries on the Gita there is no reason for adding one more in this plentiful stock.  Knowing fully that this venture of mine will be at best a no match to those scholarly written commentaries this did not deter me to tread a path with faith and conviction that I must satisfy my inner urge. The other objective behind it was to check how I write what I understood from the conversation of Lord with his despondent Disciple Arjun in distress. It has served as remedy to my restless mind seeking peace amidst turbulent oceans of desires and yearnings.
The Srimad Bhagwadgita is an invaluable gift of God. It unequivocally says that even ghastly action of killing in the battle could be a duty bound action and the same does not incur sin provided the action performed is with a sense of detachment. Lord Krishna clarifies, rather at the cost of repetition, the essence of Kartabya Karm which could  extend to even kill or get killed in a battle provided the latter emerges as a duty (not a choice)to be discharged dispassionately.
The Kartabya Karm is very difficult to conceptualize let alone follow. Even those who are great, learned and full of wisdom may miss to identify what for them the Kartabya Karm stands to be performed. It should be mentioned that Kartabya Karm changes according to the person, his attainments and accomplishment, his stage of life and mental disposition. The Kartabya Karm of Duryodhan was to hand over the kingdom due to the pandavas but when he failed in his duty and opted for going to the battle field. Thus war was a matter of choice for the Kauravas but not for the Pandavas, for them (Pandavas) it emerged as a duty that is Kartabya Karm. Thus duty is never a choice, it emerges under the interplay of the conflicting situations as it devolved upon Arjun which he failed to appreciate but for the Lord's intervention through simple conversation of great import what Srimad Bhagwadgita is. And here many even with knowledge, strength, power and wisdom fail, often frequently.
By practising its teaching one can enrich one's experience, wisdom and attitude. The Gita enables us to  introspect and explore ourself according to the basic instincts of ours. It has everything for everyone. Anyone can seek Him without any worldly qualification whatsoever. The only requirement for this is to feel with faith that I am His and He(Lord) is mine.
But the difficulty is that we are subconsciously more sensual than sensuous. Those who enjoy being sensual will find this Divine Book devoid of any interest to them. Howsoever worldly they may be they are bound to feel sooner or later the pithless character of worldly pleasure that untill recently kept them captivated. The tide of sensuality in them reaches its lowest ebb. A little reflection leads us to conclude that the journey which started as the controller of the circumstances, enjoyer of worldly pleasure, etc. etc. ultimately ends up as a slave or prey to our own cravings.
To me the Gita is more a practice work- book than a book of religious preachings.
Following even a single shloka of this great text with faith and determination transforms the one who does so. It relieves one from fear. It prompts one not to deviate from one's assigned duty even if the same is thought to be unworthy in the eyes of others.
Regular reciting of this text with an eye upon its meaning is highly rewarding intrinsically. It provides strength of character, devotion and unceasing happiness of sorts. This can't be compared with material happiness that is transient and often resulting in moral turpitude, delusion and pain.
The present venture is in the form of summarizing chapterwise understanding of the Book which is divided in 18 chapters. An attempt has been made to explain and expound taking recourse to reflections upon certain (not all) popular shlokas of that chapter. Writing with respect to all the shlokas is just an impossibility for me with a smattering knowledge and wisdom of sorts. It is humbly requested that readers may please forgive me in case they find any explanation insufficient or erroneous and the same may be corrected or amended if they feel prompted to be so.
R.R Prabhakar.
31.05.2019.
Chapter 1 :Arjun's Vishadyog.
Any yoga named vishad? Looks strange.
What is vishad?
Let us pore over to find any answer of sorts.
Vishad, I feel, is different from being sorrowful. It is something like everything is happening as per your scheme but all of a sudden you find something that makes your thinking distorted. You don't enjoy seeing the possible results of your success. The external object, state of thing or situation overpowers your sense of duty and you start thinking in the reverse way. The Actions don't enamour you and your intellect stands deluded. You become a person of zero zeal so necessary for the performance of task you have undertaken. It is the State of being frustrated at the sight of something not to your expectations or liking.
And Vishadyog? I think yoga is a state of being peace with oneself. Broadly speaking, one can achieve this peace of mind by exploring and developing wisdom through what is called Jnanyoga or doing all actions by way of surrendering them before the Lord as a token of devotion to the Lord or doing all Actions as a sense of duty without any attachment whatsoever. This the Gita refers to as Karmayoga.
But Vishadyog though no where mentioned elsewhere than on the foot of chapter 1 is according to my imagination is the state of mind, body and spirit falling in disunity with one another. The equanimity of mind is disturbed and the opposite of it is Prasad Yog ensues in the following chapters when this delusion of Arjun was dispelled and evenness of mind was restored. Thus we can say Vishad Yog ipso facto is not a Yog but the absence of it, so far I think to say.
What happened with Arjun? We all know he was brave warrior with a valour of the highest order. He did not fear death, he had so many victories to his credit. In the whole of the Gita, for once only Arjun, like a brave warrior, fitting to the Occasion, commanded  Lord Krishna who was charrioteer of Arjun. And that command was to place his chariot in the middle of the ground so that he could see who have  have assembled to die fighting with him in the battle field. Nothing unusual for a true hero! These are but natural and expected from a seasoned warrior like Arjun. But the unnatural for a hero was yet to follow.
To his sheer consternation Arjun found most of the warriors on both sides of the battlefield Kurukshetra to be their kith and kin. Some were so close to him that he just couldn't think of talking to them with disrespect or disregard let alone fighting  to kill or get killed.
Arjun wast overwhelmed and he decided not to fight for the cause which was so dear to him a short while ago. Seeing through the possibility of all out destruction, he unilaterally decided that he would not fight. He told Lord Krishna that he now no more wanted any material pleasures associated with royalty or any kingdom which could be had only through slaying his relatives and reverend like Bhism Pitamah, Guru Dron Acharya, Kripacharya and many respectful and close relatives in the person of son, son'son, brothers, brothers- in- law, father-in-law, uncles from both father as well as mother's sides etc.
All of a sudden, a mere sight at the battle field turned Arjun to talk like a man of wisdom rather than a man of valour. He started to explain to Lord Krishna the evil consequences and futulity of war.
When mind of a person is captured by delusion created out of wrongful interpretation of the reality he simply becomes incapacitated. His decisions and duty under the influence of deluded mind becomes vitiated.
Arjun forgot that it was highly inappropriate as a choice to shun fighting at the last moment when both sides are arrayed to kill or get killed in the battle. If he was so prudent and full of hermit like wisdom why this thought did not occur to his mind well in advance? The fact was that Arjun's valour and bravery were well known. He fought with victory all the battles. But this battle was with a difference. All such battles that he hitherto fought with were not his kith and kin. Fighting with close relatives, own blood and friends or well wisher was altogether a new experience for him that shiverred him, he found incapacitated to hold firm even his arch and bow. This explains why he shirked to fight and started speaking the words of a hermit. It was under the influence of apprehension of the ghastly consequences of war that was bound to finish all those relatives described above. In fact Arjun was laboring under great delusion as any body could imagine by creating an imaginary scene where he is subject to fight a battle where one and all happens to his relatives only. That is why the consequences of civil war is considered to more painful and disastrous. More devastation is wrought by way of civil war than any other types of war. In civil war your enemy is your own relatives or siblings. Fighting with them in order to finish is how much painful, it is not difficult to imagine.
So, was Arjun right to decide that he should keep his weapons down at the critical moment in view of the fact that his enemies were no else but his own blood or relatives?
1. No, the moment matters. This moment was a critical one and retreating from war at that moment would have been simply an act of cowardice not only in the eye of his opponents but people assembled to fight for him also.
2. How can a warrior just think that it is better to earn livelihood through seeking alms rather than fighting for a just cause? So if for a moment Arjun was advocating to earn livelihood by way of seeking alms it was sheerly because of a delusion born out of seeing his friends and relatives on either sides of the battle field.
3. For sometime, the detachment from war of Arjun may appear to be an outcome of his superior wisdom descending upon him at the critical moment, but upon scrutiny it is easy to infer that the words he spoke during the said wisdom was in fact a sign of his attachment. What was this attachment? This was an attachment subtly veiled under the garb of detachment. Arjun had mistakenly envisioned that all their friends and relatives would remain alive for ever providing him pleasure of relations. If the enemies in the battle of Kurukshetra were to be not related to Arjun by blood or otherwise do you feel that Arjun's state of mind would also have been what he expressed to the Lord Krishna? In that case Arjun would not have talked like that showing his reluctance or diffidence.
4. To wedge a battle was not individual decision of Arjun therefore, he must not have the right to withdraw without consent of others fighting on his side particularly Lord Krishna who always remained with the pandavas to pursue his case to undone the Justice heaped upon the pandavas in ways more than one. Everyone knew that war was forced upon the pandavas and it was the last option when all alternatives offered were turned down by Duryodhan. 
What should be the readers qualifications to read the Gita?
Nothing special. The only requirement should be to inculcate the simplicity of heart like that of Arjun. Arjun concealed nothing to the Lord as to what he felt at the battle field. Is not it strange that the most valient of the pandavas told his Charioteer Lord Krishna all that he felt that is he is feeling dizzy or his throat has parched or his hands unable to hold my weapon or resorting to mendicancy is a better course of option rather than fighting with his own guru, elders or relatives for the mere sake of a piece of land in the form of kingdom or for material pleasure associated with royalty?
As a matter of fact we are not honest or straight forward enough to express ourselves or our feelings to those from whom we seek advice or solution. Even the people in whom we repose our faith to seek advice is subsequently found to have played foul with us.
Hence we get maximum out of the reading of this Divine text when we make our mental disposition simple and surrendering in nature before the Lord.
Hence, The Bhagwadgita, to say the least, provides solution to the mind which is overpowered by the evil instincts of attachment manifest in the form of Kam(desire or lust), Krodh(Anger) and lobh(greed). It helps to tread the path of desireless Actions uplifting the self otherwise allowed to sink in the ocean of sensual pleasure.
R.R.Prabhakar.
24.09.2019.