Here is the purpose of Adhyay 6 of Bhagavad Gita.

sri-bhagavan uvaca
anasritah karma-phalam
karyam karma karoti yah
sa sannyasi ca yogi ca
na niragnir na cakriyah

The Blessed Lord said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic: not he who lights no fire and performs no work.

PURPOSE

In this chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord explains that the process of the eightfold yoga system is a means to control the mind and the senses. However, this is very difficult for people in general to perform, especially in the age of Kali. Although the eightfold yoga system is recommended in this chapter, the Lord emphasizes that the process of karma-yoga, or acting in Krsna consciousness, is better.

Everyone acts in this world to maintain his family and their paraphernalia, but no one is working without some self-interest, some personal gratification, be it concentrated or extended. The criterion of perfection is to act in Krsna consciousness, and not with a view to enjoying the fruits of work. To act in Krsna consciousness is the duty of every living entity because all are constitutionally parts and parcels of the Supreme. The parts of the bodywork for the satisfaction of the whole body. The limbs of the body do not act for self-satisfaction but for the satisfaction of the complete whole. Similarly, the living entity who acts to the satisfaction of the supreme whole and not for personal satisfaction is the perfect sannyasi, the perfect yogi.

The sannyasis sometimes artificially think that they have become liberated from all material duties, and therefore they cease to perform agnihotra yajnas (fire sacrifices), but actually, they are self-interested because their goal is becoming one with the impersonal Brahman.

Such a desire is greater than any material desire, but it is not without self-interest. Similarly, the mystic yogi who practices the yoga system with half-open eyes, ceasing all material activities, desires some satisfaction for his personal self. But a person acting in Krsna consciousness works for the satisfaction of the whole, without self-interest. A Krsna conscious person has no desire for self-satisfaction. His criterion of success is the satisfaction of Krsna, and thus he is the perfect sannyasi, or perfect yogi.

“O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth.”

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Here is the purpose of Adhyay 4 of Bhagavad Gita.

arjuna uvaca
sannyasam karmanam krsna
punar yogam ca samsasi
yac chreya etayor ekam
tan me bruhi su-niscitam

Here is the purpose of Adhyay 4 from Bhagavad Gita.

sri-Bhagavan uvaca
imam vivasvate yogam
proktavan aham avyayam
vivasvan manave praha
manur iksvakave ‘bravit

The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu, in turn, instructed it to Iksvaku.

This is the purpose of adhyay 3 of Bhagavad Gita.

arjuna uvaca
jyayasi cet karmanas te
mata buddhir janardana
tat kim karmani ghore mam
niyojayasi kesava

Arjuna said: O Janardana, O Kesava, why do You urge me to engage in this ghastly warfare, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work?

PURPOSE

The Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna from Bhagavad Gita has very elaborately described the constitution of the soul in the previous chapter, with a view to delivering His intimate friend Arjuna from the ocean of material grief. And the path of realization has been recommended: buddhi-yoga, or Krsna consciousness. Sometimes Krsna consciousness is misunderstood to be inertia, and one with such a misunderstanding often withdraws to a secluded place to become fully Krsna conscious by chanting the holy name of Lord Krsna.

But without being trained in the philosophy of Krsna consciousness, it is not advisable to chant the holy name of Krsna in a secluded place where one may acquire only cheap adoration from the innocent public. Arjuna also thought of Krsna consciousness or buddhi-yoga, or intelligence in the spiritual advancement of knowledge, as something like retirement from active life and the practice of penance and austerity at a secluded place.

In other words, he wanted to skillfully avoid the fighting by using Krsna consciousness as an excuse. But as a sincere student, he placed the matter before his master and questioned Krsna as to his best course of action. In answer, Lord Krsna elaborately explained karma-yoga, or work in Krsna consciousness, in this Third Chapter.

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sanjaya uvaca
tam tatha krpayavistam
asru-purnakuleksanam
visidantam idam vakyam
uvaca madhusudanah

Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful, his eyes brimming with tears, Madhusudana, Krsna, spoke the following words.

Material compassion, lamentation, and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self through Bhagavad Gita. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization. The word “Madhusudana” is significant in this verse. Lord Krsna killed the demon Madhu, and now Arjuna wanted Krsna to kill the demon of misunderstanding that had overtaken him in the discharge of his duty. No one knows where compassion should be applied.

Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is senseless. A man fallen into the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing his outward dress—the gross material body. One who does not know this and laments for the outward dress is called a sudra, or one who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a ksatriya, and this conduct was not expected from him. Lord Krsna, however, can dissipate the lamentation of the ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad-gita was sung by Him.

This chapter instructs us in self-realization by an analytical study of the material body and the spirit soul, as explained by the supreme authority, Lord Sri Krsna. This realization is made possible by working with the fruitive being situated in the fixed conception of the real self.

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dhrtarastra uvaca
dharma-ksetre kuru-ksetre
samaveta yuyutsavah
mamakah pandavas caiva
kim akurvata sanjaya

Dhrtarastra said: O Sanjaya, after assembling in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukshetra, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do, being desirous to fight?

Bhagavad-Gita is the widely read theistic science summarized in the Gita-mahatmya (Glorification of the Gita). There it says that one should read Bhagavad-gita very scrutinizingly with the help of a person who is a devotee of Sri Krsna and try to understand it without personally motivated interpretations. The example of clear understanding is there in the Bhagavad-gita itself, in the way the teaching is understood by Arjuna, who heard the Gita directly from the Lord.

If someone is fortunate enough to understand Bhagavad-gita in that line of disciplic succession, without motivated interpretation, then he surpasses all studies of Vedic wisdom and all scriptures of the world. One will find in the Bhagavad-gita all that is contained in other scriptures, but the reader will also find things which are not to be found elsewhere. That is the specific standard of the Gita. It is the perfect theistic science because it is directly spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna.

The word dharma-ksetra (a place where religious rituals are performed) is significant because, on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead was present on the side of Arjuna. Dhrtarastra, the father of the Kurus, was highly doubtful about the possibility of his sons’ ultimate victory. In his doubt, he inquired from his secretary Sanjaya, “What did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?” He was confident that both his sons and the sons of his younger brother Pandu were assembled in that Field of Kuruksetra for a determined engagement of the war. Still, his inquiry is significant.

He did not want a compromise between the cousins and brothers, and he wanted to be sure of the fate of his sons on the battlefield. Because the battle was arranged to be fought at Kuruksetra, which is mentioned elsewhere in the Vedas as a place of worship—even for the denizens of heaven—Dhrtarastra became very fearful about the influence of the holy place on the outcome of the battle. He knew very well that this would influence Arjuna and the sons of Pandu favorably because by nature they were all virtuous. Sanjaya was a student of Vyasa, and therefore, by the mercy of Vyasa, Sanjaya was able to envision the Battlefield of Kuruksetra even while he was in the room of Dhrtarastra. And so, Dhrtarastra asked him about the situation on the battlefield.

Both the Pandavas and the sons of Dhrtarastra belong to the same family, but Dhrtarastra’s mind is disclosed herein. He deliberately claimed only his sons as Kurus, and he separated the sons of Pandu from the family heritage. One can thus understand the specific position of Dhrtarastra in his relationship with his nephews, the sons of Pandu.

As in the paddy field the unnecessary plants are taken out, so it is expected from the very beginning of these topics that in the religious field of Kuruksetra where the father of religion, Sri Krsna, was present, the unwanted plants like Dhrtarastra’s son Duryodhana and others would be wiped out and the thoroughly religious persons, headed by Yudhisthira, would be established by the Lord.

This is the significance of the words dharma-ksetre and kuru-ksetre, apart from their historical and Vedic importance.

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