Notes
Prologue: The Journey
1 The Latin
homo derives from an Indo-European root for “earth”, and has the sense of “earthling”. It is usually translated as “man” or “human”.
Sapiens means “wise” or “knowing”.
Homo sapiens sapiens is the name of our sub-species.
2 The
Bhagavad Gita forms part of “The Book of Bhishma”, the sixth book of the
Mahabharata, or great tale of the Bharata dynasty. The
Mahabharata is the longest poem ever written, with about 1.8 million words. The text predates Christ, with references to it found as early as the 4th century BCE. According to archaeoastronomy, the events of the
Mahabharata unfold some 5,000 years ago.
3 The traditional colophon that ends each chapter of the
Bhagavad Gita identifies the text as an Upanishad on yoga. In the original Sanskrit text, the word
yoga appears 78 times as a noun and 36 times in its verbal form as
yukta, while the word
yogi appears 28 times. In using the term
yoga, the
Gita doesn’t refer solely to teachings similar to those recommended by Patanjali in his
Yoga Sutra, but adopts a far broader usage.
4 Nisargadatta Maharaj and Robert Powell,
The Nectar of Immortality: Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Discourses on the Eternal (2004), p. xv.
5 The
Bhagavad Gita is often referred to as
Gitopanishad, indicating its equal status with the Upanishad texts of the Vedas. The
Gita-mahatmyam (verse 6) of Shri Shankaracharya describes the
Gita as the essence of all the Upanishads. This makes the
Gita the essence of the Vedas. The
Gita is one of the three canonical texts of Indian philosophy (known collectively as the
prasthana-traya, the three foundations), especially for the Vedanta schools.
6 For example, the
Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad (4.4.21) distinguishes between perfect knowledge (
prajna), which manifests in action, and the knowledge of books, which it describes as “mere weariness of the tongue”.
8 Bhagavad Gita, 4.34:
tattva-darshinah (“truth seer”).
9 Stick-Like Prostration is similar to Shavasana, or “Corpse Pose”, a yoga posture that normally comes at the end of a yoga session. Corpse Pose represents saying
yes to life, allowing what is to be. Stick-Like Prostration is also a pose of surrender, but is imbued with the beautiful qualities of deep humility, dedication and devotion.
10 To learn more, see Shiva Rea, “Welcome Summer with Shiva Rea’s Solstice Prostration Practice”, Yoga Journal [website], published 17 Jun. 2016.
11 The Sanskrit term
yoga derives from
yujir, meaning “to unite” or “to connect” (
yujir yoge), as well as from
yuj in the sense of stilling (
yuj samyamane) and of enlightenment (
yuj samadhau). In the
Bhagavad Gita, the word
yoga is used in varied ways, but these all derive directly or indirectly from the sense of yoking, uniting or connecting. See Surendranath Dasgupta,
Philosophical Essays (1982), pp. 89–91.
12 Bhagavad Gita, 2.50: “yoga is skill in action” (
yogah karmasu kaushalam).
13 Each of the
Bhagavad Gita’s eighteen chapters is traditionally named according to the specific system of yoga it sets out. There are no chapter titles in the original text of the
Gita or in the
Mahabharata, for that matter, but over time similar or identical titles have been assigned consistently to its chapters. Chapter 1 is commonly entitled
arjuna-vishada-yoga, “The Yoga of Arjuna’s Despair”. Arjuna’s dark night experience, while painful and highly disorientating, simultaneously creates the opportunity for his inner transformation and spiritual deepening. By studying Arjuna’s despair and how he emerges from it, we engage in a process of yoga ourselves.
14 For instance, Narada’s despair led to Sanat-kumara’s profound teachings in the ancient
Chandogya Upanishad. Narada had a student named Vyasa. At the height of his literary accomplishments, Vyasa was consumed by a feeling of utter emptiness. His teacher, Narada, guided him out of his dark night. The result was the
Bhagavata Purana, a twelve-volume work of astonishing beauty. Then, the despair of Narada’s student Valmiki led to the
Ramayana, one of India’s great epics, made up of nearly 24,000 verses.
15 This is illustrated by Arjuna’s dark night of the soul in the
Bhagavad Gita, which is characterised not just by outer difficulty, but above all by inner conflict. Arjuna’s outer crisis is described in verses 1–27 of Chapter 1, while his inner crisis is described in verses 28–47.
16 St John of the Cross (1542–1591) was a Spanish mystic in the Carmelite order. Born in Fontiveros, near Ávila, he composed a poem entitled
Dark Night of the Soul (
La noche oscura del alma) during his own dark night experience in 1578 or 1579, while imprisoned for trying to reform the Carmelite order. St John was held in isolation and darkness in a tiny stifling cell barely large enough for his body, and was subjected to brutal public lashing at least weekly. St John also wrote a commentary on this poem by the same name in 1584–85. His poetry and studies on the growth of the soul are widely regarded as masterpieces and the summit of mystical Spanish literature. For further details about St John’s life, see Richard P. Hardy,
John of the Cross: Man and Mystic (2004).
17 The
Rig Veda, for instance, states, “Truth is one, though the learned speak of it in many ways” (1.164.46). The
Bhagavata Purana similarly advises (11.8.10), “As the honey-bee extracts nectar from all flowers, big and small, a discriminating person should take the essence from all sacred texts.”
18 Indeed, this represents a key distinction between Patanjali’s
Yoga Sutra and the
Bhagavad Gita. The
Yoga Sutra offers prescriptions especially suited for ascetics, who have disengaged from the world. Often naked and strangely adorned to assert their freedom from social stricture, Indian ascetics are commonly wanderers. They frequently take vows of silence and may retreat to isolated hideouts in the jungle, desert or mountains. By contrast, the
Gita offers yoga teachings directed specifically at those who are in active engagement with the world, like Arjuna.
19 Bhagavad Gita, 13.10:
bhaktir avyabhicharini, “the unwavering offering of love”. Krishna advises Arjuna to pursue no other form of yoga.
20 Catherine Ghosh makes this insightful observation in “Yoga in The Gita: Love Changes Our Perception”, Elephant Journal [website], published 25 Mar. 2012.