Biased Interpretation

A new translation and com¬mentary on the Gita always arouses curiosity as to what fresh insight has been found in this much-translated and exhaustively commented upon corner-stone of Hindu philo¬sophy. What is important in studying the Gita is not to lose sight of the matrix from which it evolved: the Mahabharata. A uniquely structured work, its singularity lies not in the dialogue (samvada) format, for that is the tradi¬tional style of most of the great works of philosophy but in the situation itself: dharmakshetre kurukshetra samaveta yuyutsavah. No other work of philosophy has for its context a battlefield. The crisis facing the protagonist is not an abs¬tract or metaphysical conflict of ideas, as we find in the Upanishadic dialogues. Nor is it limited to the calm question¬ing of Yama by Nachiketas or Yudhishthira, or Socrates’ last discourse. It is, again, quite removed from the existential angst of Job, although he too, like Arjuna, enters into a dialogue with the Supreme.