गीता and गीताध्यान
Brian Ruppenthal
Going back to the Gita Dhyaanam...
I found what may be a source, if not the original source, for the
Dhyaana Shlokas. If anyone is interested, do please see what you
think.
The Dhyaana Shlokas occur in what seems to be known as the
śrī-sādhanā-dīpikā, which itself is a part of something called the
GAUDIYA GRANTHA MANDIRA. Or at least, I found a work with those
titles, that does indeed contain the Dhyaana Shlokas. Here is the
link:
http://fiindolo.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/4_rellit/vaisn/sadhdipu.htm
I have no idea about the age of this work. It seems to be a compendium
drawing from many other sources, and full of quotes from, for example,
the Gita. It is definitely Vaishnavite. Might this be what
Radhakrishnan was referring to as the Vaishnava Tantrasara?
I also found the following statements as to specific verse origins, at
an A.C, Bhaktivedanta-related website -- which (oddly, I would say)
lists Adi Shankara as the original author of the the Gita Dhyaanam:
"REMARKS/EXTRA INFORMATION:
Verse 5 is the first verse of Adi Sankara’s Krsnastakam
"The last verse is often sung with the suffixed-line “śrī guruḿ
dīna-tāraṇam” offering obeisances to the “spiritual master that is the
redeemer of the fallen.”
"The final verse comes from the Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 12 Chapter 13 Verse 1."
I have confirmed that the final verse does indeed appear in the Srimad
Bhagavatam:
http://vedabase.net/sb/12/13/1/
I could not confirm that any verse comes from Adi Shankara's Kṛṣṇāṣṭakam:
http://www.stutimandal.com/new/poemgen.php?id=10
I would be much interested in further responses and/or discussion
here, from any of the learned members.
Brian
2011/6/7 hnbhat B.R. <hnbha...@gmail.com>
> Dear Group,
> I would like to summarize our findings regarding the Dhyāna Ślokas.
> We now have seen these works and/or great teachers cited as 'the' original
> source: Vaiṣņavīya Tantrasāra, Adi Śankarācārya himself, Shridhara Swami of
> some centuries ago, Shridhara Swami of recent times, and Madhusudhana
> Saraswati.
For certainty, Śankarācārya himself doesn't quote these shloka-s, as in all
the versions, his commentary on Bhagavadgita, begins with the 2nd chapter
introducing the philosophic content beginning with अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं etc.
with a summary of the preceding portion. And as the DhyAna-shloka-s have
little philosophical content, in themselves, he has not possibly quoted.
VaishNava- sources may have quoted them, but somewhere they should have
originated during the transmission of the text for religious purpose and
उपासना which is part and parcel of Tantra-s than philosophy.
Vaishnava-tantra may not be a specific Tantra text, or some abridged version
TantrasAra, based on पाञ्चरात्र or other VaishNavaite Tantra. It is a larger
field to survey and without specific chronology like the PurANa-s.
When it became appended to the text of BhagavadgitA available is still a
question without any specific answer without definite chronology assessable
to the texts.
Brian Ruppenthal
Going back to the गीता ध्यानम्...
I found what may be a source, if not the original source, for the
Dhyāna Śloka set of nine verses. If anyone is interested, do please
see what you
think.
The dhyāna ślokas occur in what seems to be known as the
śrī-sādhanā-dīpikā, which itself is a part of something called the
GAUDIYA GRANTHA MANDIRA. Or at least, I found a work with those
titles, that does indeed contain the dhyāna ślokas. Here is the
link:
http://fiindolo.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/4_rellit/vaisn/sadhdipu.htm
I have no idea about the age of this work. It seems to be a compendium
drawing from many other sources, and full of quotes from, for example,
the Gita. It is definitely Vaishnavite. Might this be what
Radhakrishnan was referring to as the Vaishnava Tantrasara?
I also found the following statements as to specific verse origins, at
an A.C, Bhaktivedanta-related website -- which (oddly, I would say)
lists Adi Shankara as the original author of the the Gita Dhyaanam:
"REMARKS/EXTRA INFORMATION:
"Verse 5 is the first verse of Adi Sankara’s Krsnastakam
"The last verse is often sung with the suffixed-line “śrī guruḿ
dīna-tāraṇam” offering obeisances to the “spiritual master that is the
redeemer of the fallen.”
"The final verse comes from the Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 12 Chapter 13 Verse 1."
Back to Brian speaking...
I have confirmed that the final verse does indeed appear in the Srimad
Bhagavatam:
http://vedabase.net/sb/12/13/1/
I could not confirm that any verse comes from Adi Shankara's Kṛṣṇāṣṭakam:
http://www.stutimandal.com/new/poemgen.php?id=10
(I am also not sure either if this is certainly by Adi Shankara, but
that is a side topic.)
S. L. Abhyankar
May I present my observations -
1 What you have provided as गीता-ध्यानम्, spreads over 10 "kakshaa"-s and seems to be longer than गीता itself !
2 The quote from (7) saptama-kakṣā "... nityānanda kari saṅge gaṅgā-pulina-raṅge hari hari bole nija-vṛnde | has the (highlighted bold) word "bole" which is certainly Hindi not Sanskrit.
3 The whole compilation seems to be what is practised, possibly in "हरे कृष्ण"-संप्रदाय if I should call it so.
4 Important advice in geetaa is to do karma without aspiring for fruits. But in sixth kakShaa there is the quote "... ante ca mahatīṃ pūjāṃ kṛtvā dīpaṃ visarjayet |
5 Most popular गीता-ध्यान-श्लोकाः seem to be the following ones appearing in chaturtha kakshaa -
pārthāya pratibodhitāṃ bhagavatā nārāyaṇena svayaṃ
vyāsena grathitāṃ purāṇa-muninā madhye mahābhārate |
advaitāmṛta-varṣiṇīṃ bhagavatīm aṣṭādaśādhyāyinīṃ
amba tvām anusandadhāmi bhagavad-gīte bhava-dveṣiṇīm ||
namo'stu te vyāsa viśāla-buddhe
phullāravindāyātapatra-netre |
yena tvayā bhārata-taila-pūrṇaḥ
prajvalito jñānamayaḥ pradīpaḥ ||
prapanna-parijātāya totra-vetraika-pāṇaye |
jñāna-mudrāya kṛṣṇāya gītāmṛta-duhe namaḥ ||
sarvopaniṣado gāvo dogdhā gopāla-nandanaḥ |
pārtho vatsaḥ sudhīr bhoktā dugdhaṃ gītāmṛtaṃ mahat ||
vasudeva-sutaṃ devaṃ kaṃsa-cāṇūra-mardanam |
devakī-paramānandaṃ kṛṣṇaṃ vande jagad-gurum ||
bhīṣma-droṇa-taṭā jayadratha-jalā gāndhārī-nīlotpalā
śalya-grāhavatī kṛpeṇa vahinī karṇena velākula |
aśvattāma-vikarṇa-ghora-makarā duryodhanāvartinī
sottīrṇā khalu pāṇḍavārṇava-nadī kaivartakaḥ keśvaḥ ||
pārāśarya-vacaḥ sarojam amalaṃ gītārtha-gandhotkaṭaṃ
nānākhyānaka-keśaraṃ hari-kathā-sambodhanābodhitam |
loke sajjana-ṣaṭpadair aharahaḥ pepīyamānaṃ mudā
bhūyād bhārata-paṅkajaṃ kalimala-pradhvaṃsanaṃ śreyase ||
mūkaṃ karoti vācālaṃ paṅguṃ laṅghāyate girim |
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṃ vande paramānanda-mādhavam ||
yaṃ brahmā varuṇendra-rudra-marutaḥ stunvanti divyaiḥ stavair
vedaiḥ sāṅga-pada-kramopaniṣadair gāyanti yaṃ sāma-gāḥ |
dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṃ yogino
yasyāntaṃ na viduḥ surāsura-gaṇā devāya tasmai namaḥ || (12.13.1)
iti nyāsa-vidhiḥ |
kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṃ dharma-saṃmūḍha-cetāḥ |
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṃ brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te'haṃ śādhi māṃ tvāṃ prapannam || (2.7)
6) There is the mention above of nyāsa-vidhiḥ. In most गीता books published by गीता-प्रेस, गोरखपूर they give कर-न्यास followed by हृदयादि-न्यास Recitation of geetaa is advised to be started after these न्यास-s So, at the end of हृदयादि-न्यास there is the quotation श्रीकृष्ण-प्रीत्यर्थे पाठे विनियोगः
7) If shloka 2-7 is to be taken as nyāsa-vidhiḥ as mentioned above, the quotation iti nyāsa-vidhiḥ is not proper. The word इति comes at the end and not at the beginning ! If one likes to be ritualistic, it would be better to go by कर-न्यास followed by हृदयादि-न्यास as given in गीता books published by गीता-प्रेस, गोरखपूर. Do I read some ritualistic inclination in your basic query about गीता-ध्यानम् ?
Please excuse if my observations sound rather critical. I would never even intend to hurt anyone's faiths. I would rather go by the advice "....जोषयेत् सर्वकर्माणि विद्वान् युक्तः समाचारन् (३-२६)"
सस्नेहम् ,
अभ्यंकरकुलोत्पन्नः श्रीपादः |
"श्रीपतेः पदयुगं स्मरणीयम् ।"
2011/6/23 Brian Ruppenthal <b.rupp...@gmail.com>
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Brian Ruppenthal
Thank you for your careful reply regarding the गीता-ध्यानम् , and the
text I had stumbled upon which contains those shlokas.
I believe you are concluding that the text which I linked to, the
śrī-sādhanā-dīpikā, is of
most recent vintage? The fact, which you point out, that the
textcontains Hindi would surely prove that assertion.
Perhaps it would be pointless to seek further information about the
text that I found, the śrī-sādhanā-dīpikā? I cannot tell if it is
worth pursuing.
In my case, I had simply searched for key words of the गीता-ध्यानम् .
I was also looking for the Vaishnave Tantrasara, which supposedly
contains the गीता-ध्यानम् .
In that way I came upon this text, the śrī-sādhanā-dīpikā, hosted at a
reputable academic website which is associated with the University of
Goettingen in Germany.
This is all I know about the śrī-sādhanā-dīpikā text.
But, as you may remember from earlier in this thread, S. Radhakrishnan
identified the 'Vaishnava Tantrasara' as the source text for the
गीता-ध्यानम् . I have worked hard to locate this text. On finding
this śrī-sādhanā-dīpikā, containing the गीता-ध्यानम् , I had thought
the two might be the same text. Your post causes me to doubt this
conclusion.
Again, thanks.
And I also want to apologize to the group for multiple postings of
this same earlier message, from me. There is an oddity in how things
get posted at Google Groups, which so far eludes me! This time however
I will just assume that my message will get out there in a timely
fashion.
On 6/24/11, S. L. Abhyankar <sl.abh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> नमो नमः श्रीमन् "ब्रायन् रपेन्थाल्"-महोदय !
> May I present my observations -
>
> 1 What you have provided as गीता-ध्यानम्, spreads over 10 "kakshaa"-s and
> seems to be longer than गीता itself !
Yes. I was looking for a text which contains the गीता-ध्यानम्, . So I
expected a larger text. I had hoped this was the Vaishnave Tantrasara
that Radhakrishnan referred to as the source text for the
गीता-ध्यानम्, .
>
> 2 The quote from (7) saptama-kakṣā "... nityānanda kari saṅge
> gaṅgā-pulina-raṅge hari hari *bole* nija-vṛnde | has the (highlighted
> *bold*)
> word "*bole*" which is certainly Hindi not Sanskrit.
<snipped to avoid excess repetition>