Gítá stands for a collection of songs. Bhagavad Gita stands for It is sung by none other than Lord Sri Krishna Himself. Sriman Narayanan takes various incarnations to correct the Erring of Jeevatma and take along with Him to Srivaikundam. The purpose of His incarnations is to interpret the Shastras and Vedas in the right manner and make it simpler to us. In that sense, this shloka gains importance. Bhagavan Gítá is a light to show us what is a better life. 

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If some text has to be the source of true knowledge, then it should have a relevance to Aadi Sastra and Vedanta. Unless it is in line with the concepts agreed by Vedanta, no one would agree that it would be a true source of knowledge. Krishna is the one who is explained by Veda, Vedanta. 

He incarnated as a cowherd (to milk the cow) and make Upanishads to take the form of a cow. Some have to take milk from the cow. The cow would not give milk if it does not find its calf in front of it. So, it is the calf who makes the cow give you the milk. That calf is Arjuna himself. The milk can be taken by all who love to take milk. The milk is Gítá. All the knowledge seekers can enjoy the nectar of Gítá. 

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Arjuna was only instrumental for Krishna to preach us. It is not that Arjuna is ignorant of all the philosophies. He was just confused what to do and what not to do. He could not decide between dharma and a dharma. He just took pity on the wrong people. Arjuna is just a character in Krishna's drama enacted by Krishna.We all people in samsara don’t know the whole thing or ignorant. We have started but want to learn more and are in a confused state. Every one of us is like Arjuna. Krishna incarnated to clear all our doubts.

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Yamunacharya, the great srivaishnavite saint, the Acharya of Swamy Ramanuja has written a shloka called Gitarthasangraha. He made Gítá quite easy to us. The whole Gítá is comprised in just 32 verses. 

Arjuna stood between two armies. He was confused whether to kill his friends and relatives who were in the opposite camp. He told Krishna that He wanted to lead a pious life and put an end to the battle. 

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Arjuna was only instrumental for Krishna to preach us. We all people in samsara don’t know the whole thing or ignorant. We have started but want to learn more and are in a confused state. Every one of us is like Arjuna. Krishna has incarnated to clear all our doubts.

In the first six chapters, Atma Sakshatkara (Realising ourselves) is explained. In the next six chapters Paramatma Sakshatkara (Realising Krishna) is explained. 

Ahankara means I and Me

Mamakara means Things belong to me.

The first part of Gita advises us 

Shed your thoughts that things belong to you. Once we think about this, we can handle our life. Nothing belongs to us. Everything belongs to Him. That Thought is important. Physical possession is not important.

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We can earn and have property but we should not think that those belong to us. We have to think that we are just a caretaker of Bhagawan's this property.

In olden days Kings used to think that the whole country is bestowed on me. It is just kept with me by Bhagawan to take care of it. Whenever a company gets liquidated, there will be a receiver. He is the person who can decide about the assets and liabilities of the company. In the same way, we are just receivers. 

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Even if we earn a property, own, and enjoy it, we have to think that we are just a caretaker.  Never ever think we are the owner. The moment we think we are the owner, mamakara comes and that's where drudrashtra brought all the problems to his sons.

Not only for our property, for our body also we are just a caretaker.

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Krishna also made it clear in the second chapter that No one can't refrain from the prescribed duties as per varnasrama dharma.

Sankya means Budhi .. Power to reason. That which is known by using our budhi is Saankya. With our intelligence, we get to know something. That is Jivatma. Jivatma is well explained in the second chapter Saankya yoga.

Vedanta says Vaidyo Narayano Harihi. Azhwar says மருத்துவராய் நின்ற மாமணிவண்ணன். In Sahasranama adyaya, Nirvanam beshajam (medicine) bishadhu (doctor). Being a doctor, He went in to find the cause for Arjuna’s grief to give treatment. Diagnosis is very very important. A wrong diagnosis leads to the wrong treatment. Gítá talks about the Jivatma and not much about the body. In religion and philosophy, He Himself is the Doctor and medicine.

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When we take medicines for fever, it reduces the temperature. But that is not the cure. There is a disease underlying. Unless we cure the disease with an antibiotic, the fever will keep on coming up again. Fever is only a symptom. We can’t treat the fever alone. We have to find the cause for it and cure it. 

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Arjuna’s cry is not his disease. There is something bothering him inside which is making him cry. So, Krishna found the cause for his cry to treat him. Cause for Arjuna’s grief: if he shoots an arrow on Bhishma or Dronacharya, they would be killed. He didn’t want to commit that sin. Krishna wanted to make Arjuna understand that body and soul are different. The moment Arjuna understands the body is perishable and Atma is eternal, Arjuna would not worry at all shooting an arrow on Bhishmacharya. 

Whenever we refer a person as He/She, it refers to the Atma dwelling inside the body. Artha Panchangam (Fundamental five questions) have been answered in Gita also. But it did not start as such but started as though Krishna wanted to clear the doubts of Arjuna and slowly He shifted to explaining all these five.

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Basic knowledge which one must have is Soul is different from the body. Unless we have that knowledge we cannot go any further into the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita. Krishna wanted Arjuna to understand even he shoots arrows, he cannot kill the souls. Even if he refrains from the war he cannot preserve the body beyond a certain age. The first thing explained in the second chapter is the eternal nature of the Jivtama and the perishable nature of the body. The more we have this knowledge we can slowly detach ourselves from the body.

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Having explained this Krishna started explaining karma yoga. When we get to know the basic nature of Jivatma, we will start prescribing our duty. Then He gradually explained Gnana yoga. Then He explained Bhakti yoga and finally Saranagati (surrender).

In the second chapter, Krishna showed us a ladder which we must understand. The ladder is quite simple. There are five rungs on that ladder.

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• I should have a basic knowledge about my soul

• Once we have it, with that basic knowledge, Perform our prescribed duties

• When we keep on practicing, all the blemishes, the dirts in our manas, and all our doubts will get cleared. We will get blemishless manas.

• With that blemishless manas, we can start meditating about ourselves

• We will get to know exactly about the Jivatma which is Atma sakshatkara.

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The last objective is Self-Realisation. The penultimate one is Meditate about our Jivatma. The prerequisite for meditation is The blemishless clear intellect. In order to get that clear intellect, we should perform our prescribed duties. With the basic knowledge about Jivatma, we should perform our duties.