Bhagavad Gita Reader: All Verses in 4 Quarters

Blessing

I would like to say that everyone wherever you are, start reading a few shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita everyday.

Read three or four shlokas everyday.

If you do not understand Sanskrit, never mind, even a translation is good enough.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

at a Satsang in VM Amphitheatre

Foreword

Monday, 10 April 2017 Mahavir Jayanti

I’m touching 96 and have seen the disappearance and reemergence of the Sanskrit language over the past century.

In fact after the small hamlet of Mattur in Shimoga district of Karnataka got the limelight as the Sanskrit speaking town, interest has awakened in the public over a language that is the janani of all languages in the Indian subcontinent and also of most languages across the globe. The continued efforts of German Universities in this direction and the pioneering work of Samskrita Bharati in making conversational Sanskrit happen has kept alive an unbroken tradition that spans thousands of years of human existence.

Consider the famous lines from - A Course in Miracles -

Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.

and in the Gita नासतो विद्यते भावः , नाभावो विद्यते सतः । Verse 2.16

I’m sure Sanskrit is the way ahead for peace and cultural harmony and visiting the Gita as this book does makes it very easy. Simply chant the verses, simply read some shlokas.

Love and Blessings! Prayerfulness.

Shambhu Dass, Pilani

Erstwhile PA to Birla Education Trust Pilani founder-secretary Sukhdev Pande

जय गुरुदेव

ॐ

Contents

Blessing

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

The Mechanics

Section 1 Bhagavad Gita Transliteration

Devanagari Latin ISO 15919 Transliteration Chart

1 atha prathamo'dhyāyaḥ

2 atha dvitīyo'dhyāyaḥ

3 atha tr̥tīyo'dhyāyaḥ

4 atha caturtho'dhyāyaḥ

5 atha pañcamo'dhyāyaḥ

6 atha ṣaṣṭho'dhyāyaḥ

7 atha saptamo'dhyāyaḥ

8 atha aṣṭamo'dhyāyaḥ

9 atha navamo'dhyāyaḥ

10 atha daśamo'dhyāyaḥ

11 atha ekādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

12 atha dvādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

13 atha trayodaśo'dhyāyaḥ

14 atha caturdaśo'dhyāyaḥ

15 atha pañcadaśo'dhyāyaḥ

16 atha ṣoḍaśo'dhyāyaḥ

17 atha saptadaśo'dhyāyaḥ

18 atha aṣṭādaśo'dhyāyaḥ

Appendices

The Devanagari Alphabet

Gita Dhyanam

Gita Mahatmyam

Pardon Shlokas

Memorization Technique

Anushtup Chhanda

A Method of performing Puja

Gita Aarti

References

Section 2 Bhagavad Gita Chanting

1 अथ प्रथमोऽध्यायः

2 अथ द्वितीयोऽध्यायः

3 अथ तृतीयोऽध्यायः

4 अथ चतुर्थोऽध्यायः

5 अथ पञ्चमोऽध्यायः

6 अथ षष्ठोऽध्यायः

7 अथ सप्तमोऽध्यायः

8 अथ अष्टमोऽध्यायः

9 अथ नवमोऽध्यायः

10 अथ दशमोऽध्यायः

11 अथ एकादशोऽध्यायः

12 अथ द्वादशोऽध्यायः

13 अथ त्रयोदशोऽध्यायः

14 अथ चतुर्दशोऽध्यायः

15 अथ पञ्चदशोऽध्यायः

16 अथ षोडशोऽध्यायः

17 अथ सप्तदशोऽध्यायः

18 अथ अष्टादशोऽध्यायः

Ending Prayer

Epilogue

Preface

The Bhagavad Gita is a Song. It is a song Divine.

It is sung by the Lord Himself and His dearest Devotee.

Most of us in Bharata love to chant shlokas from the Gita. The mellifluous singing makes the atmosphere come alive. On Gita Jayanti that falls in December, some chant the entire 700 verses of the Gita in 3 to 4 hours.

I remember in Rotary Inner Wheel Primary School back in 1972, when I was in the 2nd standard and my sister was in the 1st standard, we memorized a chapter from the Gita and sang it aloud on stage. Papa has been reading a few verses daily ever since 2000 when we received our copy of Swami Sivananda’s Bhagavad Gita.  In 2004 in Bangalore Ashram, Guruji told each ashramite to memories 10 verses, to my share was the 16th chapter and I could muster only 3 shlokas by heart then.

And of course we all know that Guruji chanted the whole Gita when He was 4 years old!

Singing is a natural expression of light heartedness, of joy and of communion.

Come let us join in making our homes come alive to the sacred chants from the Bhagavad Gita.

जय गुरुदेव

Introduction

Sanskrit words in a sentence coalesce due to conjuncts, sandhis or compounding. Hence written Sanskrit is slightly different than spoken Sanskrit. As such a teacher is required for one to learn how to chant the Bhagavad Gita.

The various editions of the Gita available today generally do not give the Gita as it is to be chanted. These in fact give the Gita as it is to be written in correct grammar!

This book is an effort in this direction. To enable the layman to know where to pause during reading, and to help perfect a serious chanter in his pronunciation. It thus bridges the learning curve and makes proper recital of the Gita an easy task. Chanting correctly enhances the aura.

Remember, the key is to allow the expression to flow.

After a few times, sing freely, allowing your natural rhythm to take over.

As you chant confidently, when Devotion seeps into your chanting, know you are already there!

The traditional sequence is to begin with the Gita dhyanam shlokas and then chant the Gita verses and end with Gita mahatmayam. Pujya Sri Sri gave us a typical invocation format that is mentioned in this book.

The Mechanics

A Bhagavad Gita written to be read alone will have some characteristics of its own. Most of the Gita verses are written in Anushtup Chhanda with 32 syllables in each verse. Chanting the verses means p a u s i n g after every 8 syllables, thus there will be 4 padas for each verse, i.e. 2 padas for each sentence.

This means that Sandhis if any that were present at that p a u s e in a sentence, will no longer be there while chanting. Similarly, if any Conjuncts were present in a continuous sentence, these are now separated at the point of p a u s e. Whereas Samasas are not split.

इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यम्  , अनहङ्कार एव च ।

जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधि-दुःखदोषानुदर्शनम् ॥ १३.८  chant this without pausing

Notice that this Gita has been specifically written to be chanted out aloud. To perfect one’s chanting. In short, pausing at the right place during chanting is what lends beauty to your chant, and enlivens the surrounding aura immensely.

It is a tremendous aid to self study learners who wish to see each letter clearly and know the exact pauses. Serious or regular readers can certainly benefit a lot from this book, as many letters missed earlier perforce of habit, will be clearly seen, hence enunciated.

Versions

It also gives पाठभेदः for words in some verses that differ in standard editions. e.g. बलं बलवतां चाहम्  , कामरागविवर्जितम् । ७.११ (बलं बलवतामस्मि)

आत्मसंयम-योगो नाम षष्ठोऽध्यायः  ॥ ६॥ (ध्यान-योगो नाम)

Following characters need special attention while chanting

Avagraha ऽ is not to be chanted, i.e. it is a silent letter.

It signifies that an अ has been dropped due to sandhi.

e.g. Recite प्रथमोऽध्यायः as प्रथमोध्यायः ,

verse 2.14 आगमापयिनोऽनित्याः as आगमापयिनोनित्याः , etc.

Visarga ः is pronounced variously, a brief mention

A visarga is pronounced aspirated ह् followed by the sound of the preceding vowel. Thus नमः is to be chanted as नमह

verse 2.41 बुद्धिः is to be chanted as बुद्धिहि

verse 2.43 स्वर्गपराः is to be chanted as स्वर्गपराहा

verse 2.47 कर्मफलहेतुर्भूः is to be chanted as कर्मफलहेतुर्भूहू

This rule is valid only when a visarga is at the end, i.e. a virama is present. This rule also applies when a visarga is followed by a pause, as at a quarter verse.

However, a visarga in close proximity with another letter gets replaced with another letter or even gets dropped. This is reflected in this book by substituting the changed letter. (popular editions of the Gita show the visarga rather than the actual letter that is to be chanted). e.g.

Visarga when followed by श or  च is pronounced as श्

तेजः क्षमा धृतिः शौचम्  , अद्रोहो नातिमानिता ।  तेजश् क्षमा धृतिश् शौचम्

भवन्ति सम्पदं दैवीम् , अभिजातस्य भारत ॥ १६.३

Visarga when followed by स or त is pronounced as स्

कार्यकरणकर्तृत्वे ,   हेतुः प्रकृतिरुच्यते ।

पुरुषः सुखदुःखानाम्  , भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते ॥ १३.२०  पुरुषस् सुखदुःखानाम्

Visarga when followed by vowel or soft consonant is dropped or changes to ओ as per context. Consider verse 2.16 नासतः विद्यते भावः नाभावः विद्यते सतः । and as it appears in popular editions नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः