Celebrate Gita Jayanti

By Indiatoday - 10.12 2016

ISKCON temples across world to celebrate Gita Jayanti

Mumbai, Dec 9 (PTI) International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has embarked upon an ambitious programme to commemorate the Gita Jayanti tomorrow at its temples all over the world.
On this anniversary day of Shrimad Bhagavata Gita on December 10, 2016, all the temples of ISKCON across the world will recite complete the Bhagavata Gita at the same time i.e 6 PM (IST), an official release said here.

“Bhagwad Gita would be recited in various ISKCON centres including France, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, Qatar, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, UAE, UK and USA,” ISKCON leader Radhanath Swami said.
Referred to as the Handbook for humanity, Gita throws light on Krishna awakening Arjun during the historic Mahabharata war, the release said.

A Gita Yajna (holy ritual) will be held on the occasion to discuss Bhagavata Gita in three parts, which are the paths shown by Sri Krishna in the Gita — Karma yoga, Janna yoga and Bhakti yoga, it said.

The first six chapters primarily discuss Karma yoga, liberation by performing prescribed activities. The last six chapters talk about Janna yoga, liberation by worshipping the Lord through ones intelligence. Ensconced between these two “protective” covers, like a pearl in the oyster, in the middle six chapters, Krishna reveals the most confidential of all knowledge, Bhakti yoga, the path of pure, unalloyed devotional service, the release added.

Famous People on Bhagavad Gita

"When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous." ~ Albert Einstein

"The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is manifested by actions." ~ Dr. Albert Schweizer

"The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity." ~ Aldous Huxley

"The idea that man is like unto an inverted tree seems to have been current in by gone ages. The link with Vedic conceptions is provided by Plato in his Timaeus in which it states..." behold we are not an earthly but a heavenly plant." ~ Carl Jung

"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonical philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial." ~ Henry David Thoreau

"The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion." ~ Herman Hesse

"The Bhagavad-Gita calls on humanity to dedicate body, mind and soul to pure duty and not to become mental voluptuaries at the mercy of random desires and undisciplined impulses."

"When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"The Bhagavad-Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe." ~ Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

 "I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita . It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us."

"The Bhagavad-Gita is an empire of thought and in its philosophical teachings Krishna has all the attributes of the full-fledged monotheistic deity and at the same time the attributes of the Upanishadic absolute." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"In order to approach a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-Gita with full understanding it is necessary to attune our soul to it." ~ Rudolph Steiner

"From a clear knowledge of the Bhagavad-Gita all the goals of human existence become fulfilled. Bhagavad-Gita is the manifest quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedic scriptures." ~ Adi Sankara