Book Review- Bhagavad Gita for Millennials by Bibek Deb Roy

This book was sent to me by @IndicBookClub @IndicAcademy for review under their 1000 Reviewers program. Here goes the review of the first book I received-

A Must-Read for All

Bhagavad Gita for the millennials by Bibek Deb Roy encapsulates the core idea of the ancient Hindu text in a comprehensive form for the young generation. He puts the ideas presented in this ancient text into the modern context.

Though the author specifies the book is for the millennials, which implies the generation who were born in the 1980s and the ’90s, it will be unfair to limit this book to any age.

The first three chapters set the pace of the book. It presents Gita in all its dimensions and tells us how and why we should read it. Though it is not a translation of the Gita in verbatim, it surely complements the Sanskrit translation done by the same author and other translations too. However, the author emphasizes that there is no substitute for reading the original Gita in Sanskrit and the Mahabharata to get a complete understanding of the sacred text. Edwin Arnold referred to the Bhagavad Gita as the ‘Song Celestial. This text is actually a poem set to the meter.

The first chapter mentions how the Hindu texts can be divided into the Shruti and the Smriti categories. ‘Shruti’ means what is heard or revealed and does not have a composer. It does not evolve. The Vedas, the Upanishads, Aranyakas are examples of Shruti texts. While ‘smriti’ text is something that is remembered and passed down through generations through word of mouth. Texts such as the Manu Samhita, the Panchatantra, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas are smriti texts. These texts can be retold in the context of changing times. The Bhagavad Gita enjoys an exalted status amongst all the smriti texts.

Since Bhagavad Gita is an integral part of the Mahabharata a complete understanding of the epic is a must. Readers will never know why Lord Krishna and the Arjun were having a dialogue in the first place. They will also be unaware that charioteer Sanjaya was blessed with a divine vision to give a commentary of the war to the blind king Dhritarashtra, and the conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna was a part of it. The author recommends BORI’s (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute) critical edition close to the original text.

He touches upon the famous scholarly debate on the multiple authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. A few Indian and Western scholars believe that the Gita is composed of more than one author. While there are several theories to prove the multiple authorship of the Gita, such as the metrical pattern of the poem which differs in style from the beginning to end. Since the verses in the Gita addresses several points of view many scholars have used words like ‘philosophical inconsistencies’ or ‘abound in contradictions’ to prove the multiple authorship. Fortunately, with the theory of statistics and homogeneity tests applied to the metric pattern of the verses, it was proved that Bhagavad Gita was the work of a single author and not many.
He reiterates, “There was a single author of Bhagavad Gita and five different authors for the Mahabharata. Naturally, this is probabilistic, not deterministic. Nothing can be confidently asserted with certainty. But that’s the way science works.” He urges us to read the works by M.R. Yardi on the statistical study of the Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabharata.

The other controversy he talks about revolves around Lord Krishna’s historicity. Lord Krishna is pervasive in the Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabharata. But was he a real person is a question many ask? Many archaeological pieces of evidence have put the debate to rest.

Especially, BB Lal’s reports reveal the presence of painted grey ware pottery in those sites mentioned in the Mahabharata. The Dwarka excavations reported by R.S. Rao proving the presence of a city underwater and onshore further cleared doubts. Literature like the Chandogya Upanishad, grammarian Panini’s ‘Ashtadhayi’, and Greek traveler Megasthenes’ writings prove Lord Krishna was a real person who later acquired divine status.

He covers the basics of reading Sanskrit and poetry by giving several examples of joining the words or sandhi, breaking the words or padacched, and the anustubh verse structure in which most slokas or verses of the Bhagavad Gita is written. He also breaks down the Bhagavad Gita chapter-wise.

The author in a conversational style elucidates the difficult concepts such as ‘Jivatma’ (individual soul), ‘Paramatma’ (eternal soul), ‘karma (action) yoga’, ‘bhakti’ (faith) with the help of Puranic stories. Noteworthy is Raja Harishchandra’s and Madalasa, Alarka and Dattatreya, and King Vikramaditya to name a few. He has also used examples from daily life to make these concepts understandable for today’s audience.

Surprisingly, people base their understanding of Gita on an often repeated but incomplete quote. Which is-

“You have the right to action alone,
and not the fruit.’

The complete one being- “You have the right to action alone. You never have the right to the fruit. Do not be motivated to act because of the fruit. But don’t be motivated to not acting either.” The quote captures the idea of Karma (action) Yoga, but the text has a lot more to it. Contrary to belief, Gita transitions from jnana (knowledge), karma (action), and bhakti (faith) yoga actually all coexists. After all, how can one separate the mind from the body? Such observations proving the empirical nature of the text can be found throughout the book.

This book proves that Gita is eternal. Since humans will evolve and so will the meaning of the text. To summarise, Bhagavad Gita is all about evolution from a lower plane to a higher one. It is not just one time read, but an instrument to self-realization.