15 interesting facts about Srimad Bhagvad Gita

Srimad Bhagavad Gita is one of the sacred texts of Hindus. They are divine words that emanated directly from the lips of God, hence they are called “Song of God“. The whole essence of life is given in this book. Those who follow Gita’s instruction will start reaching perfection and are liberated. The 15 basic amazing facts of the book are.

1. The Bhagavad Gita is an Indian sacred text or a collection of verses in the Mahabharata. They are the oldest scripture of the world and guides the lives of people.

2. Hindus all over the world are familiar with Bhagavad Gita and we all have heard about its greatness from our generations. Though they are the oldest scriptures, its relevance in modern times can add values in your life.

3. The Bhagavad Gita is a series of sermons given by Lord Krishna to Arjuna to explain him the meaning of war and life. Gita not only focuses on doing your duties but it is the way to live life.

4. This is an epic dialogue that took place between Pandava prince Arjuna and his charioteer Lord Shri Krishna. Arjuna was dithering from his duties as a warrior and Lord Krishna explained to him the meaning of life, the self, universe, and God.

5. Originally spoken knowledge of Bhagavad Gita appeared to be obscure, Lord Krishna gave the same knowledge to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra 5000 years ago. He delivered the most confidential and topmost knowledge of devotional service in the form of the Bhagavad Gita to his dearmost devotee Arjuna, and to humanity at large, in order to help all devotees understand the purpose of life and the way to surrender to Him.

6. The Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters with a total of 700 verses (Slokas) and is divided into three parts, each with 6-6 chapters. The first 6 chapters talk about the importance of prioritization in one’s life often called ‘Karma’ Yoga. The second set of 6 chapters talks about the importance of being emotionally mature often called ‘Bhakti’ Yoga. The last set of 6 chapters highlight the importance of developing a spontaneous ability to see the big picture often called as ‘Gnana’ Yoga.

7. It has been seen that number 18 has been used in Mahabharata in many places. The number eighteen means “Jaya” in Sanskrit which literally means sacrifice. The army number of divisions that took part in the war was also 18 (11 divisions/Akshauni of Kauravas and 7 Akshauni of Pandavas).

Mahabharatha consists of 18 volumes
The war of Kurukshetra was fought for 18 days
The Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters
There were a total of 18 akshinis or army units in the entire war
The war of Kurukshetra Ended with 18 survivors
Pandavas ruled Hastinapura for (18×2)=36 years
Bheeshma lost his invincibility on the 9th day(18/2).

8. Albert Einstein in the last years of his life started assimilating into the wisdom contained in the Bhagavad Gita. He said that I should have indulged in the Bhagavad Gita in the early days of my life, I am sorry for not doing so.

9. The first English translation of the Bhagavad Gita was made in 1785 by Charles Wilkins in London.

10. Very few people will know the conclusion of this Bhagavad Gita, according to Krishna-Vani, “Renounce all varieties of religion and surrender myself to me only“. Very few people understand this conclusion, therefore this fact is not known by many people.

11. Why Bhagavad Gita is called a song when it is actually a sermon? Because its rhyming meter is so beautifully harmonic and melodious when spoken perfectly. The rhyming meter is called Anustup and contains 32 syllables in each verse. They are basically divided into four-four lines, which have eight letters. The Trishtup scale is used in a particular stanza with 11-11 in every four lines.

12. Not only Arjuna but three more people heard sermons directly from Krishna.

Sanjaya (Because he has divine power in his gifts)
Hanuman (As he was in the flag of Arjuna chariot)
Barbarik (Son of Ghatotkacha) who was watching all this from atop a hill.

13. The Bhagavad Gita is originally written in classical Sanskrit but it has been translated into 175 different languages so far.

14. The Gita and Quran vows are shown only in films, in reality, there is nothing like this. Actually this is over 170 years ago, but this trend continues in movies even today. The British thought that the people of this country are more passionate about their culture, so they cannot lie to swear by the Gita or the Quran, so it all started.

15. What lessons we can learn from Gita

To achieve mental peace and harmony one should try to put an end to his desires.
Fear of death is useless. Death simply means that the soul moves from the physical world to the spiritual world.
Karma is extremely important and one should always work with dedication without worrying about the outcome.
God is always with us and around us no matter where we are or what we are doing.
Bad feelings in the human mind towards others being are the cause of human destruction and should be avoided.

This is just the basic lessons of Bhagavad Gita, to know the complete essence of life one should read the book completely.