Muzic SP at 03:07, 7 November 2024

2024-11-07T03:07:14Z

New page

{{italic title}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}

[[File:Krishna and Arjun on the chariot, Mahabharata, 18th-19th century, India.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The setting of the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'': [[Krishna]] and [[Arjuna]] at [[Kurukshetra]], 18–19th century painting.]]The '''''{{IAST|Gītā Dhyānam}}''''' ({{langx|sa|गीता ध्यानम्}}), also called the '''''Gītā Dhyāna''''' or the '''''Dhyāna Ślokas''''' associated with the Gītā, is a 9-verse [[Sanskrit]] poem that has often been attached to the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', one of the most important scriptures of [[Hinduism]]. In English, its title can be translated literally as "meditation on the Gita," and it is also sometimes called the ''Invocation to the Gita''.<ref name=easwaran75/>{{rp|395}}

The nine ''Gita Dhyanam'' verses offer salutations to a variety of sacred scriptures, figures, and entities, characterize the relationship of the ''Gita'' to the ''[[Upanishads]]'', and affirm the power of divine assistance. Although differing accounts are given of its origins, the poem is widely circulated in India, and its verses have been quoted by many [[Hindu]] leaders.

==Verses==
{|style="float: right; width: 45%; border: 1px solid darkgray; margin: .46em; font-size: 100%;" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"
|-
| colspan="1" align="center" |'''Selected verses with translation'''
|-valign="top"
|
'''English translation'''

:4. The [[Upanishads]] are the cows milked by [[Gopal (Krishna)|Gopāla]], the son of [[Nanda (mythology)|Nanda]], and [[Arjuna]] is the calf. Wise and pure men drink the milk, the supreme, immortal nectar of the [[Bhagavad Gita|Gita]]. [4]<ref name=easwaran75/>{{rp|395}}

:8. I bow down to [[Krishna|Sri Krishna]], the source of all joy, whose compassion brings speech from the lips of the dumb and carries the lame over mountains. [8]<ref name=easwaran75>[https://www.amazon.com/reader/0915132036?_encoding=UTF8&query=enlightenment_to_Arjuna#reader_0915132036 "Invocation to the Gita" (pp. 393-399)] in: {{cite book |title=The Bhagavad Gita for daily living: Commentary, translation, and Sanskrit text |last=Easwaran |first=Eknath |authorlink=Eknath Easwaran |year=1975 |publisher=Blue Mountain Center of Meditation |location=Berkeley, CA |isbn=0-915132-03-6 |oclc=1322141 |url=https://archive.org/details/endofsorrow00easw }}</ref>{{rp|399}}
|-valign="top"
|
'''Sanskrit verses'''<br />
:4. सर्वोपनिषदो गावो दोग्धा गोपालनन्दनः।
::पार्थो वत्सः सुधीर्भोक्ता दुग्धं गीतामृतं महत्॥ ४ ॥

:8. मूकं करोति वाचालं पङ्गुं लंघयते गिरिम् |
::यत्कृपा तमहं वन्दे परमानन्द माधवम् ॥ ८ ॥
|-valign="top"
|
'''Sanskrit (transliterated)'''<br />
:4. sarvopaniṣado gāvo dogdhā gopālanandanaḥ |
::pārtho vatsaḥ sudhirbhoktā dugdhaṁ gītāmṛtaṁ mahat ॥ 4 ॥

:8. mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ panguṁ laṅghayate girim |
::yatkṛpā tamahaṁ vande paramnandamādhavam ॥ 8 ॥
|}The ''Gītā Dhyānam'''s first verse opens by affirming an act of meditation (''anusandadhāmi''): "Om. I meditate on the ''[[Bhagavad Gītā]]'', which gave enlightenment to [[Arjuna]]... by the [[Narayana|Lord himself]]"<ref name=easwaran75/>{{rp|395}}<ref name=verse1skrit>(italics added) The corresponding [[Sanskrit]] reads: "Om [[Arjuna|pārthāya]] [[Bodhi|pratibodhitāṃ]] [[Narayana|bhagavatā nārāyaṇena svayaṃ]]... tvam anusandadhāmi [[Bhagavad Gita|bhagavad-gite]]" (See Easwaran, 1975, p. 394, or Chinmayananda, 1998, pp. 1-2).</ref> The ''Gītā'' is also affirmed as a mother (''bhagavatīm'', ''amba'') who rescues from ceaseless change (''bhava dveṣiṇīm''). The next verse offers salutations to [[Vyasa|Vyāsa]], the traditional recorder of the ''Gītā''. Several additional verses offer salutations (''namaḥ'', bowing down) to [[Krishna|Kṛṣṇa]] (verses 3, 5, 8), or to the supreme Godhead (''devāya'', verse 9<ref name=chinmayav9>About verse 9, Chinmayananda (1998) comments that "The invocation of the Supreme-most is undertaken here through a peculiar literary trick. The extent of the Infinite cannot be comprehended by anyone and therefore, it can only be indicated by suggestive terms. Even the Creator and the ''Vedik'' Deities representing the phenomenal powers must be praying to and invoking their own glorious powers only at the altars of the Infinite and so it is said that we invoke Him, whom the deities of the ''Vedik'' period invoke by their Divine hymns" (p. 26).</ref>).

The commonly quoted fourth verse characterizes the ''[[Bhagavad Gita|Gītā]]'' as a distillation of the wisdom of the ''[[Upanishads]]''. It uses the image of the ''Upanishads'' as like cows, and Arjuna (the person to whom the ''Gītā'' is told) as like a calf who is receiving their milk. This and another selected verse are shown in the table at right, in English translation, [[Sanskrit]] original, and romanized transliteration.

The eighth verse affirms faith that God (represented in the ''[[Bhagavad Gita|Gītā]]'' as [[Krishna|Kṛṣṇa]]) can work benevolent miracles, such as giving speech to the dumb. This verse, shown in the table, is also commonly quoted.

The remaining ''Gītā Dhyānam'' verses extoll the virtues of the ''[[Mahabharata|Mahābhārata]]'', the larger scripture in which the ''Gītā'' is embedded, or describe the challenges and foes overcome by [[Arjuna]], to whom [[Krishna|Kṛṣṇa]] spoke the ''Gītā'' (verses 6 and 7).

==Sources==
[[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]]<ref name=radhakrishnan93>{{cite book
|title=The Bhagavadgita: With an introductory essay, Sanskrit text, English translation, and notes
|last=Radhakrishnan |first=S. |authorlink=Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |year=1993
|publisher=HarperCollins |location=New Delhi |isbn=81-7223-087-7
}}</ref>{{rp|13}} and [[Nataraja Guru]]<ref name=guru75/>{{rp|7}} each stated that the ''Gītā Dhyānam'' is from the ''[[Vaiṣṇavīya Tantrasāra]]''. [[Swami Chinmayananda]] wrote that the ''Gītā Dhyānam'' was "attributed traditionally to the pen of [[Madhusudana Sarasvati]]."<ref name=chinmaya98>{{cite Q|Q108731550|year=1998
|edition=revised |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ItkqDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{rp|27}} [[Swami Ranganathananda]] wrote that the ''Gītā Dhyānam'' verses
<blockquote>
are current all over India, and now, in foreign countries also. We don't know who composed them. Some people believe it was [[Sridhara Swami]], a commentator on the [[Bhagavad Gita|Gita]] and on the [[Srimad Bhagavatam]], who lived about three or four centuries ago.<ref name=rang00/>{{rp|15}}
</blockquote>

==Influence==
[[Nataraja Guru]] stated that the ''Gītā Dhyānam'' "is found prefixed to most Indian editions of the Gita."<ref name=guru75>{{cite book
|title=The Bhagavad gita: A sublime hymn of dialectics composed by the antique sage-bard vyasa
|last=Guru |first=Nataraja |authorlink=Nataraja Guru |year= 1973
|publisher=Asia Publishing House |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pAgSAQAAIAAJ
}}</ref>{{rp|7}} [[Swami Ranganathananda]] stated that in studying the ''Gita'', "generally, before commencing the study of the text, we study what are called ''Gita Dhyana Slokas'', 'the nine Meditation Verses on the ''Gita''.'"<ref name=rang00/>{{rp|15}}

Hindu leaders have quoted or alluded to verses from the ''Gītā Dhyānam''. [[Swami Vivekananda]] wrote from Chicago, following his attendance at the [[Parliament of the World's Religions|1893 World Parliament of Religions]], that "I am doing the Lord's work, and wherever He leads I follow. मूकं करोति वाचालं etc. - He who makes the dumb eloquent and the lame cross a mountain, He will help me."<ref name=vivekananda64>{{cite book |title=Letters of Swami Vivekananda
|last=Vivekananda |authorlink=Swami Vivekananda |year=1964
|publisher=Advaita Ashrama |location=Calcutta, India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WmdIAAAAMAAJ }} (pp. 68-71). Letter to Dewanji Saheb, Chicago, 15 November 1894(3?) [sic]</ref>{{rp|71}}

[[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]], when praising work done at a school for orphans, wrote that "Seeing the school, I bowed my head in reverence and wondered what love could not do. It can make the dumb speak and the lame climb a mountain."<ref>Gandhi (18 February 1932), ''Collected Works'', vol. 55, p. 22.</ref>

[[Swami Ranganathananda]] wrote with regard to the 8th verse that "Many saints and sages in India have used this verse again and again to express the power of [[Kripa (philosophy)|Divine Grace]]."<ref name=rang00>{{cite book
|title=Universal message of the Bhagavad Gita: An exposition of the Gita in the light of modern thought and modern needs (Vol. 1)
|volume=1
|last=Ranganathananda |first=(Swami) |authorlink=Swami Ranganathananda |year=2000
|publisher=Advaita Ashrama |location=Calcutta |isbn=81-7505-213-9
}}</ref>{{rp|23}}

==Translations==
[[Swami Chinmayananda]] has published a word-for-word English translation of the ''Gītā Dhyānam'', along with extensive commentary:
*{{cite book |title=Shreemad Bhagawad Geeta chapter I & II: original Sanskrit text with Roman transliteration, word-for-word meaning, translation and commentary |last=Chinmayananda |first=Swami |authorlink=Swami Chinmayananda |year=1998 |edition=revised |publisher=Central Chinmaya Mission Trust |location=Mumbai, India |isbn=81-7597-084-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4CvB0fwrKrEC&q=%22it+is+usual%22 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{ISBN|978-81-7597-084-7}} (pp. 1-27)
Other translations into English include:
*{{cite book |title=The Bhagavad Gita for daily living: Commentary, translation, and Sanskrit text |last=Easwaran |first=Eknath |authorlink=Eknath Easwaran |year=1975 |publisher=Blue Mountain Center of Meditation |location=Berkeley, CA |isbn=0-915132-03-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/endofsorrow00easw |oclc=1322141 }} (pp. 393–399)
*{{cite book |title=The Bhagvad-Gita |last=Sivananda |first=Swami |authorlink=Sivananda Saraswati |date=2000 |edition=Web |orig-date=1942 |publisher=[[Divine Life Society]] |location=Rishikesh, India |url=http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/download/bgita.pdf |accessdate=30 May 2011 |oclc=463526912 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927022943/http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/download/bgita.pdf |url-status=dead }} (pp. 7–8).
*{{cite book |title=The Bhagvad-Gita: With Samskrit text, free translation into English, a word-for-word translation, and an introduction on Samskrit grammar
|last=Besant |first=Annie |authorlink=Annie Besant |author2=Bhagavan Das |authorlink2=Bhagavan Das (theosophy) |year=1905
|publisher=Theosophical Publishing Society |location=London and Benares
|url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5q1DAAAAYAAJ |oclc=463526912}} (pp. xxxii-xxxiii).

The ''Gītā Dhyānam'' has also been translated into Italian:
*{{cite book |title=La bhagavad gita. Traduzione integrale dal sanscrito e commento
|last=Sivananda |first=Swami Saraswati |authorlink=Sivananda Saraswati
|others=L. Porpora (trans.) |year=2005
|publisher=Edizioni Mediterranee |isbn= 978-88-272-1791-7
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dtYDBZXXYbQC
}} {{ISBN|88-272-1791-6}} (pp. 32–33)

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Contains special characters|Indic}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxgwhFfJWyU  Audio recitation of ''Gita Dhyhanam'']

*Sanskrit text and transliteration: [http://chinmaya-twincities.org/studygroup/gitadhyanam.pdf ver. 1] [http://chinmayabirmingham.org/sites/default/files/images/Gita_Dhyanam.pdf ver. 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140308065010/http://chinmayabirmingham.org/sites/default/files/images/Gita_Dhyanam.pdf |date=8 March 2014 }} (Chinmaya Mission)

{{Hindu deities and texts}}

[[Category:Sanskrit poetry]]
[[Category:Bhagavad Gita]]

Gita Dhyanam - Revision history

Muzic SP at 03:07, 7 November 2024