Meditation on Sri Gita
O Bhagavad-gita, sung by the Supreme Lord Himself, You are the bestower of the enlightenment of Arjuna. You have been interwoven within the scripture Mahabharata by Srila Vedavyasa, the writer of the Puranas. In eighteen chapters, You are the rain of ever-flowing nectar, and the almighty potency of the Supreme Lord which delivers the whole material world of suffering. O Mother, I keep You in my heart forever.
Obeisances unto Srila Vyasadeva
O master of great, formidable intelligence, Srila Vyasadeva, whose eyes resemble the long petals of a blooming lotus flower, and who lit the lamp of knowledge which was filled with the oil of the Mahabharata - I offer my respectful obeisances unto you.
Obeisances unto the Lord as the chariot-driver of Arjuna
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna, who fulfills all the desires of His surrendered devotees. He holds a driving-rod in one hand while the other is poised in the gesture of instruction, and He is the extractor of the nectar of the Gita.
The glory of the Gita
The crest-jewels of the Vedas, the Upanisads, are like a cow, and the milker of the cow is Lord Sri Krsna, the son of Nanda Maharaj. Arjuna is the calf, the nectar of the Gita is the milk, and the virtuous devotees are the drinkers and enjoyers of that milk.
Obeisances unto Lord Sri Krsna
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krsna, who is the son of Vasudeva, the vanquisher of demons like Kamsa and Canura, the expander of the divine ecstasy of mother Devaki, the Supreme God of all gods, and the guru of the whole universe.
The battlefield represented as a river
The river, of which one bank is Bhisma and the other is Dronacarya; Jayadratha is the water, the sons of Gandhari are the blue lotus flower, and Salya is the crocodile; Krpa is the current, and Karna is the everchanging rising and ebbing tide; Asvatthama, Vikarna and company are the fearful sharks, and Duryodhana is the whirlpool - Sri Kesava is the fisherman of such a river of battle, which was crossed over by the Pandava brothers.
The Mahabharata as a lotus flower
The words of Sri Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasadeva, the son of Parasara Muni, are a pure lotus flower. The meaning of the Gita is the far-reaching fragrance of that lotus, and the various narrations are its stamens. The revelations of harikatha, narrations about the Supreme Lord, are the river. In this world, the pure devotees are the bees who are constantly absorbed in drinking the nectar of the lotus flower. May that Mahabharata lotus, which is the vanquisher of all evils in this age of Kali, graciously bestow auspiciousness upon us.
Obeisances unto the Supreme Lord
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord whose glories are praised with celestial prayers by Lord Brahma, Lord Varuna, Lord Indra, Lord Rudra, and the Maruts, and whose glories are recited by the knowers of the Sama-veda; whose glories are sung by all the Vedas, along with their six subsidiary divisions and the Upanisads; who is seen within the hearts of the yogis absorbed in meditational trance, and whose infinite glories cannot be known, either by the gods or the demons. (Bhag. 12.13.1)
Before reciting or studying the scriptures, one must offer respectful obeisances unto the Lord's incarnations Nara-Narayana Rsi of Badarikasrama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, the goddess of speech Saraswati, and the writer of the scriptures, Srila Vyasadeva.