Gita Jayanti

The sacred day on which, according to tradition, Bhagavan Shri Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Gita Jayanti celebrates the appearance of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita. As the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata relates, the armies of the Kauravas and the Pandavas stood facing each other at Kurukshetra. Seeing his own teachers, his grandsire and his kinsmen arrayed against him, Arjuna was overcome by grief and confusion and laid down his bow. Then Bhagavan Shri Krishna, who had become his charioteer, gave him divine teaching on duty, karma yoga, knowledge, meditation and devotion. This dialogue of eighteen chapters and about seven hundred verses is the Bhagavad Gita, still honoured around the world as a guide for life.

According to tradition the teaching was given on Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi, which is also known as Mokshada Ekadashi, the Ekadashi that grants liberation. It usually falls in late November or December. In the tenth chapter of the Gita the Lord Himself says that among months He is Margashirsha, so this month is regarded as especially sacred.

On this day devotees fast, worship the Gita as a sacred text and recite the whole Gita or selected chapters. Temples, ashrams and schools hold Gita recitations, discourses, verse-chanting competitions and the distribution of copies of the Gita. Many families take a vow on this day to read a few verses of the Gita every day.

At Kurukshetra in Haryana the occasion is marked by the International Gita Mahotsav, with deepdan and aarti at the Brahma Sarovar, cultural programmes and mass recitation of the Gita. Jyotisar, revered in tradition as the place where the Gita was spoken, draws special devotion during these days. ISKCON and many other organisations also hold special Gita yajnas and readings.

Tithi

Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi (Mokshada Ekadashi)

Month

November–December

Places

Kurukshetra, Jyotisar

Source

Mahabharata, Bhishma Parva; Bhagavad Gita 10.35