Inane Interpolations In Bhagvad-Gita by BS Murthy (pdf to ebook reader .TXT) 📕

and abides in me in supreme peace.

V16 

nātyaśhnatastu yogo ’sti na chaikāntam anaśhnataḥ
na chāti-svapna-śhīlasya jāgrato naiva chārjuna

O Arjun, those who eat too much or eat too little, sleep too much or too little, cannot attain success in Yog.

V17 

yuktāhāra-vihārasya yukta-cheṣhṭasya karmasu                             
yukta-svapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā

But those who are temperate in eating and recreation, balanced in work, and regulated in sleep, can mitigate all sorrows by practicing Yog. 

Besides the irrelevant above, the following verses (v41-v42) appetizing though for the yoga enthusiasts, are clear interpolations for the same reason as the preceding ones.

V41 

prāpya puṇya-kṛitāṁ lokān uṣhitvā śhāśhvatīḥ samāḥ
śhuchīnāṁ śhrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣhṭo ’bhijāyate

The unsuccessful yogis, upon death, go to the abodes of the virtuous. After dwelling there for many ages, they are again reborn in the earth plane, into a family of pious and prosperous people. 

V42 

atha vā yoginām eva kule bhavati dhīmatām
etad dhi durlabhataraṁ loke janma yad īdṛiśham

Else, if they had developed dispassion due to long practice of Yog, they are born into a family endowed with divine wisdom. Such a birth is very difficult to attain in this world.

Hence, these irrelevant ‘yoga ten’ are clear interpolations, and if we were to concede the irreverent argument of some that they would have been incorporated later for holistic reasons, then that in itself is an admission of interpolations in the original text. 

 

Chapter – 7:  Gjnāna Vigjnāna Yoga

 

This chapter of 30 verses is about understanding the nature of the Supreme through knowing and meditation. However, v20-v23 besides breaking the continuity in the character of the discourse, advocate worship of gods for boon seeking that Krishna, as already seen, has chastised in Ch2, v42-v44. In order to  appreciate that v20-v23 are interpolations, one my see how the original narrative runs, prior to their insertion, and subsequently thereafter.

Ch7, V14

If thee forsake well and true                                   
To Me then thou come ’n grasp
Natures these Mine illusions. 

daivī hyeṣhā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te 

Ch7, V18

Noble as all worship Me   
The knower true is selfsame Me.

udārāḥ sarva evaite jñānī tvātmaiva me matam
āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā mām evānuttamāṁ gatim 

Ch7, V19                                          

Once in a while
Births after many, 
Born who knows 
I pervade worlds. 

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ

Then appear these inanities

V20 

kāmais tais tair hṛita-jñānāḥ prapadyante ’nya-devatāḥ                              
taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya prakṛityā niyatāḥ svayā

Those whose knowledge has been carried away by material desires surrender to the celestial gods. Following their own nature, they worship the devatās, practicing rituals meant to propitiate these celestial personalities.

V21 

yo yo yāṁ yāṁ tanuṁ bhaktaḥ śhraddhayārchitum ichchhati
tasya tasyāchalāṁ śhraddhāṁ tām eva vidadhāmyaham

Whatever celestial form a devotee seeks to worship with faith, I steady the faith of such a devotee in that form.

V22 

sa tayā śhraddhayā yuktas tasyārādhanam īhate
labhate cha tataḥ kāmān mayaiva vihitān hi tān

Endowed with faith, the devotee worships a particular celestial god and obtains the

objects of desire. But in reality, I alone arrange these benefits.

V23

 antavat tu phalaṁ teṣhāṁ tad bhavatyalpa-medhasām

devān deva-yajo yānti mad-bhaktā yānti mām api

But the fruit gained by these people of small understanding is perishable. Those who worship the celestial gods go to the celestial abodes, while my devotees come to me

Now back to good sense with 

Ch7, V24   

Unmanifest Am State Supreme 
But saddle Me with form uncouth.

avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mamāvyayam anuttamam

Ch7, V25 

Dull in delusion won’t perceive 
Me that’s unborn veiled from them.

nāhaṁ prakāśhaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛitaḥ
mūḍho ’yaṁ nābhijānāti loko mām ajam avyayam  

Hence, undoubtedly v20 –v23 can be taken as inane interpolations. 

 

Chapter - 8: Akshara Parabrahma Yoga

 

This 28-verses chapter deals with an un-wavering devotion to the Supreme to attain Him besides the science of meditation to realize the Brahman towards the same end.  It can be seen below how v5 places the cart before the horse, and why v9-v14 too, are interpolations that is going by their content that’s out of context. 

However, the interpolations that take the cake are the superstitious v23-v27 that pollute an otherwise thought-elevating work, and as already noted, it was to Sir Edwin Arnold credit that he deleted these from his timeless The Song Celestial.    

So, to see all these interpolations in their improper place, one may appreciate the text and the context of this chapter that opens with Arjuna’s query to Krishna thus:

Ch8, V1

O Lord appraise what’s Brahman  
Lies what within ’n backs action  
Nature of deities besides the beings.

kiṁ tad brahma kim adhyātmaṁ kiṁ karma puruṣhottama
adhibhūtaṁ cha kiṁ proktam adhidaivaṁ kim uchyate

Ch8, V2                                                                                                                                           

What is that guides bodily acts,
What makes yogis realize Thee?  

adhiyajñaḥ kathaṁ ko ’tra dehe ’smin madhusūdana
prayāṇa-kāle cha kathaṁ jñeyo ’si niyatātmabhiḥ

And thus spoke Krishna,

Ch8, V3

Self-Imperishable is Brahman 
But dwells it yet there in beings   
Brings that forth is Act Supreme.  

akṣharaṁ brahma paramaṁ svabhāvo ’dhyātmam uchyate
bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-sanjñitaḥ

Ch8, V4

Perish as beings all in time

Spirit that lasts of them is Me.

adhibhūtaṁ kṣharo bhāvaḥ puruṣhaśh chādhidaivatam
adhiyajño ’ham evātra dehe deha-bhṛitāṁ vara

Now note this -

V5 

anta-kāle cha mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti nāstyatra sanśhayaḥ 

Those who relinquish the body while remembering Me at the moment of death will come to Me. There is certainly no doubt about this.

And going by the following, the above is a prehash of the same -

Ch8, V6

In the end the way one tends
Charts that future course he takes.

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajatyante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

Ch8, V7

If thou act with this in mind
In the end thou gain Me true,
By My word now opt for war
With thy strength ’n skill I gave. 

tasmāt sarveṣhu kāleṣhu mām anusmara yudhya cha
mayyarpita-mano-buddhir mām evaiṣhyasyasanśhayam

Ch8, V8

Me they reach whoso keep
On Me focus as they work.

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam tyajatyante kalevaram                                         
tam tam evaiti kaunteya sada tad-bhava-bhavitah

So, as v5, places the v8 cart before the horse, here comes v3’s  expansion of after the closure of the subject as above

V9 

kaviṁ purāṇam anuśhāsitāram         
aṇor aṇīyānsam anusmared yaḥ

sarvasya dhātāram achintya-rūpam
āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt

He who is omniscient, timeless, the commander, subtler than the subtlest, protector of all, incomprehensible, brilliant like the sun, beyond darkness, (one) contemplates (him).

Now follows a mixture of lectures on yoga, meditation, celibacy etc. 

V10  

prayāṇa-kāle manasāchalena
bhaktyā yukto yoga-balena chaiva
bhruvor madhye prāṇam āveśhya samyak
sa taṁ paraṁ puruṣham upaiti divyam

At the time of departure, endowed with devotion, an unwavering mind, as well as the power of yoga, fully establishing the praanaas in the centre of the eyebrows, he attains that supreme divine person.

V11 

yad akṣharaṁ veda-vido vadanti
viśhanti yad yatayo vīta-rāgāḥ
yad ichchhanto brahmacharyaṁ charanti
tat te padaṁ saṅgraheṇa pravakṣhye

Scholars of the Vedas describe Him as Imperishable; great ascetics practice the vow of celibacy and renounce worldly pleasures to enter into Him. I shall now explain to you briefly the path to that goal.

V12 

arva-dvārāṇi sanyamya mano hṛidi nirudhya cha

mūrdhnyādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām 

Restraining all the gates of the body and fixing the mind in the heart region, and then drawing the life-breath to the head, one should get established in steadfast yogic concentration.

V13 

oṁ ityekākṣharaṁ brahma vyāharan mām anusmaran       
yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṁ sa yāti paramāṁ gatim 

One who departs from the body while remembering Me, the Supreme Personality, and chanting the syllable Om, will attain the supreme goal.

V14 

ananya-chetāḥ satataṁ yo māṁ smarati nityaśhaḥ
tasyāhaṁ sulabhaḥ pārtha nitya-yuktasya yoginaḥ

O Parth, for those yogis who always think of Me with exclusive devotion, I am easily attainable because of their constant absorption in Me.

And here we have the v23-v27 superstitious kit, the pièce de résistance that was broached at the beginning of this chapter introduction, and before, which, if literally taken, would imply that if one dies when the moon is on the ascent he would be heaven bound and, to hell, if it’s other way round. So, Sir Edwin Arnold, one of the foremost to translate the Gita that was way back in 1885, dismissed these as the work of some vedānti and thought it fit, justifiably at that, not to include them in his The Song Celestial, of course, along with the tailpiece v28.

In this connection it may be noted that the relationship between the state, in which a person dies, and his imminent rebirth is covered in Ch14, v14 ‘n v15, which are seemingly authentic.

V23 

yatra kāle tvanāvṛittim āvṛittiṁ chaiva yoginaḥ
prayātā yānti taṁ kālaṁ vakṣhyāmi bharatarṣhabha

 

But, (there exists) the path of no return for a yogi who is leaving his body, and also the path of return, I shall speak about those, O scion of the Bharatas.

V24

agnir jyotir ahaḥ śhuklaḥ ṣhaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam

tatra prayātā gachchhanti brahma brahma-vido janāḥ 

Fire, light, day, the bright (fortnight of the month), the northern movement comprising six months; those people who have departed through that path, knowers of brahman attain brahman. 

V25                                                                                                                                       

dhūmo rātris tathā kṛiṣhṇaḥ ṣhaṇ-māsā dakṣhiṇāyanam
tatra chāndramasaṁ jyotir yogī prāpya nivartate

Smoke, night, darkness and the southern movement comprising six months; the yogi (travels through) that path, attains the light of the moon, to return.

V26 

śhukla-kṛiṣhṇe gatī hyete jagataḥ śhāśhvate mate
ekayā yātyanāvṛittim anyayāvartate punaḥ

For, bright and dark, both these paths have been known since eternity. By one, the traveller does not have to return, by the other, he has to return again.

V27

naite sṛitī pārtha jānan yogī muhyati kaśhchana

tasmāt sarveṣhu kāleṣhu yoga-yukto bhavārjuna

Yogis who know the secret of these two paths, O Parth, are never bewildered. Therefore, at all times be situated in Yog (union with God).

V28 

vedeṣhu yajñeṣhu tapaḥsu chaiva
dāneṣhu yat puṇya-phalaṁ pradiṣhṭam
atyeti tat sarvam idaṁ viditvā
yogī paraṁ sthānam upaiti chādyam

The yogis, who know this secret, gain merit far beyond the fruits of Vedic rituals, the study of the Vedas, performance of sacrifices, austerities, and charities. Such yogis reach the Supreme Abode.

It is worth noting that v1- v4, v6- v8 and v15-v22 of this chapter, if read together would bear an unmistakable continuity of argument that these thirteen interpolations as above deprive it.

  

Chapter - 9: Raja–Vidya–Raja–Guhya Yoga,

 

This chapter of 34 verses describing various ways of attaining the Supreme lends itself readily for interpolations, and what is more given the seemingly incomplete exposition of the promised dharma in v2, possibly in the in vogue Gita, there could be some omissions that the original had contained.

At the outset alert, Krishna tells Arjuna

Ch9, V1 

Thus spoke the Lord:
Unenvied as thou I would tell
The art of leading fruitful life.

śhrī bhagavān uvācha
idaṁ tu te guhyatamaṁ pravakṣhyāmyanasūyave
jñānaṁ vijñāna-sahitaṁ yaj jñātvā mokṣhyase ’śhubhāt,

So, it goes without saying that until and unless one overcomes his envious tendencies, ‘the art of leading fruitful life’ that Krishna revealed would be of no avail, but neither Gita’s commentators nor the gita-chāryās seldom, if ever, stress upon this enabling condition for grasping Gita’s philosophy!

However, hoping that our readers would have grasped the import of Krishna’s above averment for their self-enlightenment; now back the Gita’s interpolative course with the following verses.

Ch9, V2 ,

Supreme secret that’s sacred     
Profound dharma for mankind  
Fair and simple, practicable.

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ pavitram idam uttamam                                    
pratyakṣhāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam 

V7 

sarva-bhūtāni kaunteya prakṛitiṁ yānti māmikām
kalpa-kṣhaye punas tāni kalpādau visṛijāmyaham

At the end of one kalp, all living beings merge into My primordial material energy. At

the beginning of the next creation, O son of Kunti, I manifest them again.

As can be seen, the above contravenes the following (Ch8, v15-v16) besides echoing the interpolative v18 - v19 of this chapter.

Ch8, V15

Having come to stay with Me
Get they rid of births and deaths.

mām upetya punar janma duḥkhālayam aśhāśhvatam
nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ sansiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ 

Ch8, V16

Journey to Brahman holds return ticket 
Journeys back none abode from Mine. 

ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino ’rjuna
mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate  

Next comes v15 but before that,