[Advaita-l] Shri Abhinavagupta's commentary on 1st sloka of Bhagavat Gita

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,
 
The propagator of Kashmir Shaiva Siddhanta 
Mahamaheshwara Abhinavagupta Padacharya 
also wrote a commentary on Bhagavat Gita.  
His commentary has a tilt towards Kashmir Saivism 
and it is out of context for us to discuss these 
issues here in Advaita Forum.  
 
However, the commentary on the 1st sloka of the 1st chapter 
is worth reading by every Astika.  I am omitting the mUla sloka 
as everyone knows this.  Let us get into the commentary part.
 
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atra kEchit vyAkhyAvikalpamAhuH – kurUNAM – karaNAnAM 
yat kShEtraM – anugrahakaM ; ata Eva sAMsArika dharmANAM 
sarvEShAM kShEtraM – utpatti nimitta tvAt “ayaM  sa 
paramOdharmO yadyOgEnAtma darshanaM 
(iti yAjnavalkya smritEH). 
 
Ityasya dharmasya kShEtraM samasta dharmANAM kShayAdapavargaprAptyAtrANabhUtaM tadadhikAri sharIraM, 
sarvakShEtrANAM kShEtrarhi sArthatvAt paraspara vadhyaghAtaka 
bhAvEna vartamAnAnAM rAga vairAgya krOdha kShamA prabhrutInAM samAgamO yatra, tasmin sthitA yE mAmakAH – avidyApuruShOchitA(a)vidyAmayAH saMkalpAH – pANDavAH shuddhavidyA 
puruShOchitA vidyAtmanaH – tE kiM akurvata – 
kaiH khalu kEjitA iti yAvat – mamEti kAyatIti mAmakaH 
avidyA puruShaH – pANDuH shuddhaH
 
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Given below is the liberal translation of mine.
 
The term “kuru” denotes external & internal organs (indriyas).  
The field of operation of these indriyas is the physical body (sharIra) 
which is “kShEtra”.   So, “kuru-kShEtra” denotes the sthUla & 
sUkShma sarIra alongwith bAhya & Antara indriyAs that provoke 
“Asuri guNAs”.    
 
And “dharma” denotes both “pravritti dharma” & “nivritti dharma”.  
Shri Abhinava Gupta refers the Yajnavalkya Smriti here and 
says that “ayaM hi paramO dharmO yadyOgEnAtma darshanaM”.   
So, “dharma-kShEtra” implies the sarIra in whom the indriyAs 
have adopted “daivi guNAs” and are fine-tuned towards 
treading the “nivritti mArga”.    
 
So, both “kuru” represented by kauravAs as “Asuri guNAs” 
and “dharma” represented by pANDavAs as “daivi guNAs” 
have their locus in the same kShEtra, the battle field.  
Shri Abhinava Gupta says that the former is symbolism of 
ajnAna filled with illegitimate desires and the later is the 
symbolism of jnAna (pANDuH shuddaH) filled with sat-saMkalpa.  
 
DhritarAsTra poses the question to Sanjaya that who 
were the winners and losers? 
 
Shri Abhinava Gupta answer that whoever laments as “mAmakAH” 
belongs to the category of kaurava and who yearn for nivritti mArga 
belongs to the category of pANDava.   So, naturally, the sAdhaka 
who treads the path of dharma is always the victorious.
 
Thus ends the commentary of Shri Abhinavagupta Pada 
to the 1st sloka of 1st chapter of Bhagavat Gita.
 
Regs,
Sriram