Om Namah Shivaya - Om Namo Venkatesaya  

The Song of God - Swami Venkatesananda enlarged 4th edition - 1984 - published by The Chiltern Yoga Trust, Cape Town, South Africa

Prayer - Offering - Preface

Prayer
Om parthaya pratibodhitam bhagavata narayanena svayam vyasena grathitam purana munina madhye mahabharatam advaita 'mrta varsinim bhagavatim astadasa 'dhyayinim amba tvam anusamdadhami bhagavad gite bhava dvesinim
1. Om. O Bhagavad Gita, with which Partha (Arjuna) was illumined by lord Narayana himself and which was composed within the Mahabharata by the ancient sage Vyasa, O divine mother, the destroyer of rebirth, the showerer of the nectar of advaita (oneness) and consisting of eighteen chapters - upon thee, O Bhagavad Gita, O affectionate mother, I meditate.
namo 'stu to vyasa visala buddhe phulla 'ravinda 'yata patra netra yena tvaya bharata taila purnah prajvalito jnanamayah pradipah
2. Salutations unto thee, O Vyasa of broad intellect, and with eyes like the petals of full-blown lotuses, by whom the lamp of knowledge, filled with the oil of the Mahabharata has been lighted.
prapanna parijataya totravetrai 'ka panaye jnana mudraya krsnaya gita 'mrta duhe namah
3. Salutations to Krsna, the parijata or the bestower of all desires for those who take refuge in him, the holder of the whip in one hand, the holder of the symbol of knowledge and the milker of the nectar of the Bhagavad Gita.
sarvo 'panisado gavo dogdha gopala nandanah partho vatsah sudhir bhokta dugdham gita 'mrtam mahat
4. All the upanisad are the cows, the milker is Krsna the cowherd boy, Arjuna is the calf, men of purified intellect are the drinkers, the milk is the great nectar of the Gita.
vasudeva sutam devam kamsa canura mardanam devaki parama 'nandam krsnam vande jagad gurum
5. I salute lord Krsna, the world teacher, the son of Vasudeva, the destroyer of Kamsa and Canura, the supreme bliss of Devaki.
bhisma drona tata jayadratha jala gandhara nilotpala salya grahavati krpena vahani karnena velakula asvatthama vikarna ghora makara duryodhana 'vartini so 'ttirna khalu pandavai rana nadi kaivartakah kesavah
6. With Krsna as the helmsman, verily, was crossed by the Pandava the battle-river whose banks were Bhisma and Drona, whose water was Jayadratha, whose blue lotus was the king of Gandhara, whose crocodile was Salya, whose current was Krpa, whose billow was Karna, whose terrible alligators were Asvatthama and Vikarna, whose whirlpool was Duryodhana.
parasarya vacah sarojam amalam gitartha gandhotkatam nanakhya 'nakakesaram hari katha sambodhana 'bodhitam loke sajjana satpadair ahar ahah pepiyamanam muda bhuyad bharata pankajam kali mala pradhvamsi nah sreyase
7. May this lotus of the Mahabharata, born in the lake of the words of Vyasa, sweet with the fragrance of the meaning of the Gita, with many stories as its stamens, fully opened by the discourses on Hari, the destroyer of the sins of Kali, and drunk joyously by the bees of good men in the world, day by day, become the bestower of good on us.
mukam karoti vacalam pangum langhayate girim yat krpa tam aham vande parama 'nanda madhavam
8. I salute that Krsna, the source of supreme bliss, whose grace makes the dumb eloquent and the cripple cross mountains.
yam brahma varune 'ndra rudra marutah stunvanti divyaih stavair vedaih sanga pada kramo 'panisadair gayanti yam samagah dhyana 'vasthita tad gatena manasa pasyanti yam yogino yasya 'ntam na viduh sura 'sura gana devaya tasmai namah
9. Salutations to that God whom Brahma, Varuna, Indra, Rudra and the Marut praise with divine hymns, of whom the Sama-chanters sing by the veda and their anga, in the pada and krama methods, and by the upanisad, whom the yogi see with their minds absorbed in him through meditation, and whose end the hosts of the deva and asura know not.
OM
OM NAMO BHAGAVATE VASUDEVAYA
OM NAMAH SIVANANDAYA
OM NAMO VENKATESAYA
OM TAT SAT
Worshipful offering at the Feet of Gurudev Swami Sivananda
It has always bordered to the miraculous. Gurudev blessed Me and sent Me overseas in 1961, and I have been asked to speak, speak, and speak to all sorts of audiences in several countries. Before I stand up on the platform, and after I get down from it, I have always been sceptical of My worthiness to be there. But I have always experienced an inner transformation the moment I offer the prayer to the Guru - Gurudev took over. It was He who spoke, and I have always been the first listener.
I am nothing. It is Gurudev who has carried on His own mission - that it has been through this particular instrument is a blessing upon it. In the proces, the instrument itself has been chastened, purified, and in spite of its unworthiness, glorified. But, no one should ever forget that all glory, all praise, should be offered to Gurudev.
Swami Venkatesananda
Preface
The Bhagavad Gita - Song of God - has captured the imagination of thinking men and women all over the world. It has been translated into many languages and has among its devotees people belonging to many religions and nationalities. The uniqueness of the gospel of the Bhagavad Gita lies in the fact that its follower need not belong to a particular formal religion or sect.
"Each man devoted to his own duty attains perfection", declared the Prophet of Cosmic Vision, Sri Krishna, who continues to explain succinctly how this perfection is attained. "He from whom all beings have evolved and by whom all this is pervaded - worshipping Him with due performance of his own duty, man attains perfection."
Here, then, is an unique gospel which does not tamper with your station in life, distract you from your duties, disturb your faith, nor lure you away from the path you have chosen, but illumines your path and strengthens your faith. Its proclaimed object is to free you from worry and anxiety, to protect you from yourself - your own lower self, full of unruly desires and unjustified prejudices, deluded by ageless ignorance and therefore haunted by meaningless fears of imaginary calamities.

Is it possible in the modern world to live a life of peace and joy, free from tension and anxiety, fear and frustration? Yes! The Bhagavad Gita illumines that possibility.
This is not a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, but it can serve as a supplement to the standard commentaries. Is is meant as a spiritual stimulant, to help understand the scripture better.
The best way to use it is to study a page a day, and then meditate on the verses themselves. By the Grace of God and Guru you will receive more light from within, and greater, ever greater understanding of the spirutual truth revealed in the scripture.
This is the sole object with which this labor of love is offered at the Feet of the Lord presnt in our heart.

Here is the story of the Mahabharata in brief. Two brothers, Dhritarashtra who was born blind, and Pandu who was born anemic, had a hundred wicked sons and five pious respectively. The wicked sons of the former were keen to 'take over' their cousins' share of the kingdom, and tried by all means, fair and foul, to achieve their ambition. God's Grace, however, rescued the sons of Pandu from peril to peril.
The wicked hundred contrived to banish the pious five from the kingdom for a period of thirteen years, and when they returned after successfully completing the period of exile, the wicked ones flatly refused to give them their rightful share of the kingdom.
Lord Krishna, who was a friend of the pious five, made a last minute attempts to avert the armed conflict, which however became inevitable.
The impartial Lord Krishna offered to help both the parties; they could choose between Himself and His vast army. The wicked hundred chose the army, and the pious five were happy that they could have Him on their side. Krishna served as the charioteer of one of the pious five, Arjuna.
Dhritarashtra, the blind King, was complacent that his sons' superior might, the numerical superiority of their army, and the presence on their side of Bhishma of unparalleled valour - who could not be slain against his own will - would ensure their victory. However, on the tenth day of the battle, Bhishma fell. The blind King's faith was shaken, and he called upon his intuitive-sighted Minister, Sanjaya, to narrate the events of the war to him.
Now read on ...
 
scroll to top