BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS

DOES IT MEAN RECITING ONLY VERSES SPOKEN BY LORD KRISHNA IN THE BHAGAVAD-GITA IS PURIFYING?
ANSWER: THE RECITATION OF THE WHOLE BHAGAVAD GITA IS PURIFYING.

EXPLANATION:
SPEAKER NO. OF VERSES DETAILS
LORD KRISHNA 575 VERSES
ARJUNA 83 VERSES (MOSTLY IN CHAPTERS 1 AND 11 AND JUST 28 VERSES IN 12 OTHER CHAPTERS)
SANJAYA 41 VERSES (MOSTLY IN CHAPTER 1 AND FOUND ALSO IN 2, 11 AND 18)
DHRTARASTRA 1 VERSE
TOTAL 700 VERSES

Krishna is the speaker of the Gita.
In the Bhagavad Gita, there are 575 verses spoken by Lord Krishna, 83 verses spoken by Arjuna (in some chapters there are no verses spoken by Arjuna), 41 verses spoken by Sanjaya and one verse spoken by Dhrtarastra. Dhrtarastra speaks one verse which begins the Bhagavad Gita. So, in this way, the 700 verses are there.

Now sometimes we say that the Bhagavad Gita is spoken by Lord Krishna, which is true. But we can see that the remaining 125 verses were not spoken by Lord Krishna. Now, then is it correct to say that the Bhagavad Gita is spoken by Lord Krishna?

So, Baladev Vidyabhushana analyses this that just as proximity shapes quality, he says that the essential message of the Gita is the message that Krishna has given. And everything around that is just the context that immediately and powerfully brings out the relevance, the necessity and importance of that message.

Because Krishna’s words are transcendental and the surrounding verses of the Gita which preface or succeed Krishna’s verses, they provide the context over proximity to Krishna’s words, they also acquire transcendental characteristics.

So, from the technical point of view there are not 125 verses spoken by Krishna.
But from the overall point of view that they also contribute to transmission of Krishna’s message.
So, they are also said to be potent, that is transcendental.

So, we consider the recitation of the whole BG purifying.

It is not that when ‘Dhrtarastra uvaca’ -Oh! Dhrtarastra was an attached person – So if I say, Dhrtarastra and recite his verse – I will not become purified. I should only find out which verse is ‘sri bhagavan uvaca’ and recite only those verses and not other verses. No. This is a bad attitude. This is a short-sighted attitude because we understand that Krishna’s words – the purification is not just in recitation, its additions are extremely important for those who are inclined to do it. And all of us can recite verses for purification.

In the 17th Chapter, how Krishna said that one of the austerities of speech, by which our speech becomes austere and pure but along with that Krishna also wants to convey meanings and the meanings are understood in the context. That’s why we consider the recitation of all the verses of Gita purifying.

So, it is not in the technical sense that Lord Krishna spoke all the 700 verses but in an overall sense that all the 700 verses contribute to the meaning of the essential message spoken by Lord Krishna.