We all know that the Gita comes from the Mahabharata, India’s greatest epic. There was a great sage named Vyasa. His father’s name was Parasara. Once, the sage Vyasa was deeply inspired to write an epic, but he found that it was impossible for him to write down the whole epic. So he prayed to Brahma, the Creator.
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, our Trinity: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, Shiva the Transformer. Vyasa prayed to Brahma and Brahma descended in human form. The sage said to Brahma, “Please send me someone who can write down what I say.”Brahma said, “Well, there is only one person on earth who can do that, and that is Ganapati. You invoke him, he can take down your dictation.” So he invoked Ganapati, the son of Lord Shiva.
Ganapati came and agreed to write on one condition. The condition was that Vyasa could not pause.; he had to dictate continuously, without interruption. If he hesitated or if he paused, then Ganapati would leave him. Vyasa consented and said, “Now, I also want to dictate to you on one condition, and that condition is, that unless and until you know the meaning of what I dictate you will not write. You have to wait and ask me if there is anything that you do not comprehend.” Vyasa was very clever. He thought that he would use complex sentences and it would take time for Ganapati to understand them, and in the meantime he would be able to get more inspiration and get ready for dictation. Thus the Mahabharata was composed.
Other stories from the Gita
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